Unus Ultim Ludus
by The Genius Mage
Summary: A Tournament begins to see who becomes leader of the Angels, and of course our favorite Composer enters, and that means Neku and the gang are thrown back in the Game once more. Currently in: Shibuya, Tokyo
1. Prologue and Special Thanks

***Dedications and Special Thanks*:**

This story is dedicated to the many people who have helped me with this story. That would be in no particular order:

James Firebrand: For encouraging me to be original, despite the fact I'm sure some of my ideas are just weird and putting up with some questions I had for this story.

Jaunea: Thanks so much for helping out with this story; once again, I had to ask several people for their opinions before I wanted to upload this.

Rita Arira: Couldn't do it without you, thanks for some wonderful ideas, like a certain Noise form.

My brother and sister: Helping me come up with the appearances, personalities, and Noise forms of the many other Reapers.

The Light's Refrain: For allowing the use of your "Noise Form" idea, even though I'm using an edited version of yours.

The Legendaerie LT: For basically being awesome and being one of the many people I pestered with questions.

Midnight Critic: Once again, a person I asked for an opinion on, thank you very much for your support.

Last but certainly not least…

RawkstarVienna: For being patient as I got this up, allowing me to bother you with some questions, and giving me permission to use your amazing characters from "Crossing".

Also, special thanks to everyone else that has ever reviewed my stories, I hope you're back here again, along with some new ones, as I start my biggest project ever.

I've done a story with 129 pages and around twenty chapters.

This has, so far written at the time the prologue was posted, four chapters and 50 pages.

I'll try my best to keep this in character and at least make _some_ kind of sense, but be aware this is fan fiction and some odd things can happen.

Be sure to check the poll out on my page, and maybe snag the TWEWY Interview when you get there?

On that final note, I proudly present:

_~::Unus Ultim Ludus::~_

_~*One Final Game*~ _

**Prologue: Tournament of Angels**

Joshua stalked down the corridors of the white hallway.

Everything, and he meant _everything_, was white. Completely featureless, so featureless that he almost walked into a pillar, but of course he caught it in time to dodge it.

_I wouldn't have almost did that if I was in my Composer form._ He thought with some annoyance.

Normally he would be, but after the Games with Neku and the others, he felt more…comfortable lately in his downgraded form. True, he was lower in power, but a thought could alter that. There was no reason to change right now, especially since someone would have to be crazy to attack him where he was anyway.

The white hallways of the _Ange Palais_, or "Angel Palace", were eerily empty. Not that he knew whether or not they were often populated, but to someone used to the constant noise of his city, the silence was disconcerting.

Not that he showed it.

A voice from behind him:

"I hope we're not in trouble, boss."

The voice belonged to Sanae Hanekoma, the Producer of Shibuya. He was an Angel, although a Fallen one, but still had some high influence by simply being who he was. Joshua respected him, to a degree, and he nodded in agreement.

"I certainly hope not." He replied mildly.

A new voice spoke from his side, his tones vaguely amused as he removed the lollipop from his mouth.

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Koki Kariya, Joshua's current Conductor, (albeit unwillingly), walked at his side, each step carefully measured. His calm eyes looked out from behind his orange tinted glasses, each word unhurried and tranquil.

The only reason he was even his Conductor was because Joshua had threatened to…"get uncivil" with him. Kariya really was a powerful Reaper, and once he had been promoted his powers had only increased, and his Noise form was impressive.

The only problem was he hadn't wanted the job in the first place and only agreed to do it if the Composer let his partner, Uzuki, be Game Master at least once. Joshua agreed, promising that she would get to be Game Master permanently if she did a good job.

Also, Kariya was very similar to Joshua himself via his loathing to do any labor personally. It was by this virtue that he guessed Kariya wouldn't plot to overthrow him.

He hoped, anyway. It'd be a shame to get rid of a Reaper that was here before even _he_ was.

As they walked down the hallways, huge doors opened of their own accord, flooding out intense light so bright that everyone squinted for a second.

Once the light had faded, they were standing in a large circular room that was filled with chairs. The chairs on the left were the lowest, each one steadily growing taller until the chair on the right was the highest in the room. Kariya gave a low whistle, lifting his eyes up.

"What's this about?" He asked lazily.

"It's the big meeting room." Sanae explained. "I have no idea why they called us here, though." His tone was serious, which was unusual, and Joshua crossed his arms, a smile on his features.

"We're going to find out."

As soon as he spoke, more flashes appeared across the huge room. Some were white, others black, some were rainbow colors, and still others were bright and dark and every shade in between.

There was no exception; every group was a group of three. A boy Conductor, a girl Composer, a boy Producer, a girl Conductor, a boy Composer, a girl Producer. The groups were different, some all boys, some all girls, some a mixture of both. A few even appeared in their Composer forms, glowing different colors, while others appeared in their Noise counterparts. A Conductor in the form of a long, dangerous looking snake blinked comically before shrinking into his normal appearance, gaining a disapproving glare from his superior. A few Angels had their wings out, but Joshua saw others were doing what he was doing, hiding their powers in their more downgraded forms.

A Conductor swaggered by, his large wings expanded, eyeing Kariya with a smirk. Kariya simply rolled his eyes, expanding his own wings, which were in comparison much larger than the other's thanks to his promotion. His wings were usually shrunk down anyways, but his full expanse of them was something to view.

Smirking at the Composer of the swaggering Conductor, Joshua then turned his attention to a girl that had just approached him. He would have thought nothing of her, she was surprisingly young, about Rhyme's age, with short ginger hair and lavender clothes, but her eyes were yellow. She smiled, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Hello, I'm the Composer of Nagoya, are you who I think you are?"

Joshua smiled. "It depends. Who do you think I am?"

"You're the Composer of Shibuya, right? So lucky! I wish I was!" She grinned again, but her eyes were sharp and almost had a bestial quality to them. "What's going on?"

"If I knew, trust me, I'd tell you, dear."

Pouting at his mocking tone, she skipped away, followed by her hulking Conductor and her skinny Producer. Sanae rolled his eyes.

"Real charming, boss."

"I try." He giggled.

Kariya removed his lollipop, pointing to the mass of gathering people. "Looks like they're calling us, I doubt this many people broke this many rules."

Joshua inwardly agreed, his eyes roaming over the crowds of inhabitants. Some were dark skinned, others light skinned, some in between. Americans, he knew them by their distinguished accent, were clustered together near him, speaking in whispers.

A girl with sharp, intelligent eyes that didn't exactly look _unfriendly_ but was somewhat difficult to read nonetheless was giving her Conductor a strange look. "I would know what's going on…why?" Her tone dripped sarcasm.

The girl she was talking to, her Conductor Joshua guessed, shrugged. "I don't know Vienna, we just got here out of nowhere."

Vienna nodded in agreement, and Joshua realized that must be the famous "Vienna" he had heard a lot about lately. He turned his attention to another group of North Americans talking amongst themselves.

"This is stupid, why were we called? I was _this_ close to Erasing that Player!" A Conductor grumbled.

His Composer smiled, long fingers tapping each other. He had a distinct mane of dark brown hair that framed his thin face and languorous eyes. "I trust James is still behind? A Game without a Game Master is a disaster. Why were you Erasing Players anyway? You explain the rules. You aren't a Harrier anymore. Player Erasing is only if you were part of a mission for that."

"I was going to say so too." A female Producer said, frowning at the Conductor. "However, I have a sense we're going to find out soon."

"You were right." Joshua said to Kariya, who folded his hands inside his skeleton parka, not looking shocked.

"I usually am."

Sanae laughed. "What about that one t-"

"Meh. Details." Kariya interrupted.

Joshua narrowed his eyes. "Shh. Over there."

Everyone else had noticed and felt it too, a ripple in the air that made the Vibe of the current plane they were on shudder. Suddenly emerging from the thin atmosphere, floating above the various heads of the assortment of people, were none other than Angels.

They were very powerful Angels, so powerful they had shed their physical bodies and now were beings almost entirely comprised of raw Imagination, Soul, and energy. They had long, shimmering white bodies that vaguely resembled humans in cloaks, with tight, slim features and multicolored eyes that peeked out from beneath the smooth folds of their clothing. One thin arm lifted, and silence entered the room.

The being spoke, his voice soft but somehow loud, echoing in the area.

"_Welcome, Keepers of the Games. You are all gathered here for a reason." _A pause, then the being next to him spoke in a feminine tone, also soft.

"_One of our own as ultimately passed on for the last time. There is now an opening amongst our ranks. Not just as Angels, but as part of the Grand Council that resides here in our palace. Our leader has moved on, and simply put, it's time for another. Customary to this, we are holding a tournament, so that one worthy may once again watch _all_ Games from above. The being who proves themselves worthy of Ascension will become the Grand Archangel."_

Voices erupted around the room, and Joshua felt his lips twitch of their own accord into a smile.

_Become leader of the Grand Council? That _does_ have its merits._

The beings spoke at once, drowning out the voices.

"_We are having a Game, a Game that pits all Composers and those associated with them against each other in a Tournament. Only certain cities with certain traits may participate... The one that emerges as victor will ascend to our ranks, as leader."_

A gruff voice, with a heavy accent.

"Why leader, mon? Not dat I be complainin', but one of your own could be leader of da Council."

"_The Council's leader has always been the victor of the Tournament. This Tournament will be long, and not all will compete against each other. There will be a series of rounds, each one defeating the other, until there are only two cities left. After that, they will participate in a Game of our choosing."_

"Boss…You're not-"Hanekoma began uneasily.

"Oh, but I _am_ Sanae. As leader, I could amend your current Fallen status, and maybe…'correct' a few problems." Joshua replied, violet eyes glimmering.

"_Cities may exempt themselves if they do not wish to play."_

No one spoke for a while, then the girl that Joshua had spoken to earlier said:

"What's the Fee?"

The beings replied, _"There is no Fee. You may not play yourself, but you may choose four representatives, and a Substitute should one become injured .These five Players will then play in your steed, Proxies, if you will."_

Joshua smiled wider. He had the four perfect candidates…

"_Anyone may play. There are no limitations. Even if they have played before."_

More whisperings and Kariya sighed, unwrapping another lollipop.

"I feel sorry for Skulls Jr. and the others."

"Oh, but don't. I'm sure dear Neku will have _so_ much fun!"

~***~

_**Drop a review on your way out, will you? Reviews make me update faster.**_


	2. Rules and Regulations

_**Oh my God, sorry for the wait! It has to get Beta Read, you know. Thanks very much to James Firebrand! If it wasn't for him, you'd all die from information overload, and not enough info in some places. Sorry, this is just an "explaining chapter", next chapter will pick right up. And I'll try not to take so long next time.**_

_**Immediate Note: Joshua and Mr. H are not my best characters.**_

_**~***~**_

**Chapter One:**__**Rules and Regulations**

_Day Zero: Explanations_

Neku was…being Neku. To Shiki, there was simply no other word for who he was, nothing that could describe him better, than his name.

He was walking beside her, face hunched in his collar, devoid of his earphones for once as he looked at everything with smoky blue eyes, a sort of disinterested air around him.

"Something the matter?" She asked.

The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. "No. Nothing's wrong."

Silence settled between them again, like it often did. It wasn't a bad silence, it was a comfortable silence. It had a soft, friendly feel to it that Shiki had grown used to the more she spent with him. She learned that Neku wasn't one for small talk, and he would rather hear her speak than say anything himself.

But she knew he was thinking, and respected this, and just walked with him, her arm brushing his.

A voice sounded from just behind them, sounding both amused and slightly concerned.

"Yes, what's the matter, Neku?"

Shiki jumped, but Neku didn't. His eyes widened slightly but besides that there was no indication that he was surprised. He turned around to glare at Joshua, but both she and the Composer could see the glint of laughter in the boy's eyes. Shiki knew Neku didn't _hate_ Joshua; they just had their odd moments when he couldn't stand the ashen haired teen. However, that didn't stop the boy from doing his best to show he didn't care.

Which, obviously, was a lie, or he wouldn't have asked his next question.

"…You okay, Josh?"

"I need a reason to visit my dear, dear friend?" Joshua replied. Shiki just watched silently.

"You want something, don't you?" Neku sounded irritated, but once again there was concern in his eyes.

"Possibly. Want to go somewhere a little more private?"

"What for? Is it_ that_ secretive?" Shiki questioned.

Joshua raised his eyebrows. "I can't exactly talk about the UG here, now can I?"

Without another word the Composer turned and stalked through the crowds, and after a moment's hesitation Neku and Shiki followed him. They weaved through the people, some coming at them, other's moving in their direction, as they headed down the streets. Stopping in an obscure alleyway, still damp with the earlier rain, Joshua turned to face them now. His violet eyes glowed in the gloom, looking distinctly…worried?

_Joshua's worried?_ Shiki thought._ I'm scared, then._

"Spit it out," Neku said. He wasn't in a mood for Joshua's usual take-forever-to-get-to-the-point attitude.

The Composer threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Oh very well, Neku. You know I love beating around the bush."

"So we've noticed." Shiki mumbled. She wasn't sure what she thought of Joshua personally. He had killed Neku, twice, but then again…He had a good reason, and the Game did wonders for Neku's personality and such…

She had settled on a sort of distrust for the Composer, be he had not yet earned her complete dislike.

"The Archangel, the leader of the Angels, has 'passed' for the last time." Joshua made quotations with his fingers on the word "passed". "That is to say, he or she, I honestly don't know, has moved on to the Last Ascension. That means there's a spot open."

"And…?" Neku was obviously hoping what he was thinking wasn't what Joshua was implying.

"_And_, Nekky dear, Shibuya has already been entered into the tournament to play for the position. Do you know what happens if we don't win, or at least someone mildly favorable?"

Shiki answered for him. "You have enemies."

"That's correct. Now, pray tell, you both know about the many rules we broke during the last Games you were in, not to mention the _teensy_ amount I've done before…"

Neku snorted.

"So, said enemy could quite possibly Erase us all."

There was no humor or amusement on the Composer's face now, and Shiki saw a glint of white fire in his eyes, his determination that seemed to bleed across from the UG to where they were now.

"I can't play again," Neku said. "Remember?"

"I wouldn't have come if there wasn't a way around that. Allow me to explain the rules." Joshua's eyes narrowed, and Shiki realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach that she was about to play the Game again.

She _knew_ she wasn't the strongest Player ever, Joshua said the most unique things about her was her Soul, strong and stable, and her _Imagination_. Her Imagination alone was wildly impressive, according the Composer, who wouldn't elaborate more on the matter besides he was thinking about her psyche.

_I just hope I can do this again._

~***~

Rhyme was sleeping at first, but she was a light dozer and it was only a matter of time before she became aware of the presence in her room. She twitched her eyes slightly, then sat up, yawning and looking out into her dark room to better examine the figure.

"Joshua?" She asked sleepily.

His violet eyes glimmered in the dark before he smiled at her, causing the lights to flick back on of their own accord.

"Raimu, dear, we need to talk."

"You sound like my parents." She joked, but her eyes quickly caught his serious expression. He flicked his hair from his eyes.

"I need your help. The Angels are having a Tournament to see who becomes their next leader, as tradition demands. I'd like to win over my enemies, if you get my saying so."

"Enemies?"

"Dear, I do _not_ make a lot of friends among other Composers, but I do have an ally or three." He tapped his fingers. "However, my allies aren't important to you at the moment. You, Beat, Neku, Shiki, and a Substitute in case one of you should fail, need to participate in these Games."

"F-fail?" Rhyme asked. "As in Erasure, Player Fees…?"

"No Player Fees, no Erasure, except for one exception. But the penalty is a slower healing rate, and in case one of you gets too injured we'll have someone else to take your place. Any ideas?" Joshua replied calmly.

Rhyme had thought of her by accident, but he had read her mind as soon as the thought leaped across it.

"Eri? Yes, she does have an extraordinary Imagination…I think I'll 'ask' her."

"N-no, Shiki will go ballistic!" Rhyme stammered.

"Oh well. I doubt Eri wants to see her friend leave again, she'd much rather go with her. I doubt we'll need a Substitute anyway." Joshua said dismissively. Rhyme blinked, wondering why he had turned cold. No one knew more than she that Joshua had a different side, (especially since she was basically his best friend).

When did that happen? Easy. One day the friends had met at Hachiko, like usual, and Joshua had been there. The associates had talked for a while, everyone else but Neku mildly uncomfortable in the violet eyed boy's presence. Every once in a while Joshua would be there or sometimes several times in a row.

On one of these visits Rhyme had decided to get to know the boy better, and while the others were basically being attacked by Eri and Shiki in the mall for new clothes, she had approached him.

They had rarely talked before; Joshua usually directed his attention on Neku unless it was demanded elsewhere. She had been uneasy, at first, but gradually he had proven he wasn't going to do anything bad and she began to calm down.

Their talks had gotten longer and more intricate the more times they decided to chat, and soon he surprised her by actually coming to her house for a few visits.

Their trust and friendship grew quite unexpectedly. After she told him she valued him strongly, and that she would always help him if he needed it, they had been best friends ever since.

She wondered if it was her promise to always help him that brought Joshua to her room now.

The spinning ceiling fan cast moving rectangle bars across his face, and every time the shadow passed it illuminated the Composer's eyes.

"What can your enemies do as leader of the Angels?" Rhyme asked, knocking herself from her thoughts.

Joshua sat down on the end of her bed, forming an arch with his fingers again. "They can point out every minuscule mistake, in all probability Erase you guys, Sanae, and me."

"Oh." Rhyme murmured. "I'll play." There really was nothing else to say.

"That's nice to hear, dear." Joshua smirked, taking one of her hands and kissing it, smirking at her blush. "But don't get killed, because I'd hate to have to avenge your death." He sounded teasing, but she wasn't so sure.

~***~  
They all met at the entrance to the sewer, waiting for Joshua. They could distantly hear the quick whoosh of the river as it rushed and howled down into the depths.

"Not again." Shiki murmured. Eri squeezed her shoulder, smiling affectionately.

"We can do this, Shiki!" Eri said.

However, Shiki didn't miss the fear and worry in her best friend's eyes. Rhyme had called her with a message about Joshua, and Shiki knew what she had to do. When she had informed Eri they would have to play a Game, a _deadly_ Game which Eri only knew of because Shiki had told her. And of course she had left some things out.

There were some things you just couldn't tell anyone, not even your best friend. Shiki had a suspicion Eri was probably panicking inside, but she was making an effort to hide it to comfort her.

Neku crossed his arms, glaring left and right. "Where's Josh?"

"How do I know?" Beat grumbled, wrapping an arm protectively around Rhyme.

Neku was the first to hear the quiet footsteps. Each step was light, and the sound of rustling clothes echoed in the tunnel.

Joshua emerged, smirking cheerily. "Are we ready? You'll have to meet the other contestants, it'll be charming, won't it, dears."

"What about our parents?"

"As far as they're concerned, you are all on some sort of trip." Joshua replied, waving his hand at Rhyme as if dismissing her query. "No need to worry, it's taken care of."

"And once we get there they'll answer our questions?" Shiki asked.

"Yes, or so they've told me. Let's go, shall we?" He offered Neku his hand, and the boy in question glared at him.

"This isn't some dumb trick, is it?"

"I assure you it's not."

Neku grimaced, taking his hand, and Shiki took his. Everyone held each other's hands, and then Joshua smiled at them before a pulse of white light shrouded them. The radiance flared, and Shiki saw angels circling in the white around them before fading into…

There was so much white. White on white on _white_. It was like looking a snowfield, but there were no other features that she could make out. The only reason she knew they were out of Joshua's light was because it was no longer moving.

"Where are we?" Rhyme asked. As soon as she said something, Shiki heard a sharp _whooshing _noise. Then she heard _everything_.

People were talking, the figures came into view. Most of them were around Kariya and Uzuki's age, others were only teenagers, and a handful of them were adults. The noise was enough to make Neku clench his earphones, which he had gotten back from his room, tighter.

Well, she guessed if she had to stay a certain age she'd pick a young age too.

All nationalities, skin colors, hair styles and hues were in front of her. She didn't recognize anyone.

"Where are we?" She whispered.

Joshua smiled. "This would be _Ange Palais,_ the 'Angel Palace', if you will. Here we will hear the rules from Sanae once they're done explaining them to him. Why don't you go meet the other Players?" He suggested.

"Why not jus' explain it all at once?" Beat demanded.

"Certain rules for certain ears." Joshua replied.

Neku huffed, crossing his arms, but Shiki grabbed his hand. "C'mon, we don't have anything else to do. Let's talk to those kids."

She pointed to a blonde haired girl with soft features and brown eyes, and her black haired friend with green eyes and a cheery expression. Shiki could tell the black hair was dyed, since some blonde roots showed.

She walked over, leading Neku. "Hey, we got dragged into this too." Shiki greeted the kids. What do you think so far of this?" She gestured to everything around them.

The boy blinked, about to reply, but the girl beat him to the punch.

"Bonjour, Mademoiselle! My name is Felice, and this is my partner and brother, Dominique." She said in a light French accent.

Shiki squealed. "Ohh you're from France? So lucky! I'm Shiki, and this is my partner Neku, we're from Japan."

"Excellent, no? I 'ear the fashion there is most interesting, and they did not disappoint." Her eyes traveled around Shiki's clothes, but not in a critical way. Her own simple blue dress kind of paled to the pink and white clothes Shiki was wearing today. "Oh, how rude of me." She smiled at Dominique, and he waved.

"What's up, guys? I got bullied into this by Felice; she went and made friends with Lucifer." He made a face.

"Lucifer?" Neku asked. "She's friends with the Devil?"

This brought a peal of laughter from Felice and a smile from her brother, who muttered "basically" while his sister just grinned.

"No, he is not the Devil." Felice giggled.

"Might as well be," mumbled Dominique. "Hey, do you know what's going on?"

"Just that there's a Tournament to see who the leader of the Angels becomes." Shiki chirped.

"Ah, Shiki, was it?" He bowed and kissed her hand, causing Shiki to blush. "I thought you looked intelligent; is that why we're here? Our Composer doesn't tell us anything."

Neku pulled Shiki back slightly, and she looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, well, whatever. We're going to find our friends."

Shiki was still confused as Neku began to drag her off, and Felice scolded her brother.

"What did I say about flirting with girls? He's obviously her boyfriend."

Shiki followed Neku through the crowds and managed to locate Eri, who was with Beat and Rhyme.

Beat kept rubbing his head and grumbling to himself about how he didn't understand. They were talking to two Mexican kids. They had tanned skin and dark hair, with eyes to match. A boy appeared to be the leader, with long black hair around his shoulders and pale clothes.

"Senor, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you're not following the conversation are you?" He asked Beat.

"Your accent is hard to understand, man."

"How can you understand us at all? We're speaking Japanese." Eri said in confusion.

A pause, and then the boy replied, "It must have something to do with the UG."

"Death speaks the same language." Rhyme suggested, seemingly unfazed by all of this.

"That's true." The girl next to the Mexican boy agreed.

Eri waved as she noticed Shiki, beckoning her over. "Oh, guys, this is Shiki and Neku. Shiki and Neku, this is Yazmin," she pointed to the leader. "And Sol."

"Greetings." Sol said, dipping his head.

Shiki and Neku returned the gesture, and then they got into a conversation with the Mexican kids. Apparently, only a few kids knew about the Tournament, and even less knew exactly what was going on.

"I wonder if the Composers are even allowed to say more," Sol murmured.

"Yeah, like, what's up with that?" Eri mused.

"Doesn't matter." Neku cut across. "We've just got to do our best and win. Good luck, guys,"

Sol looked at Neku with his dark eyes. "Yes, thank you…" He looked worriedly at Yazmin who had begun to sway slightly.

"Is she okay, yo?" asked Beat.

Yazmin, the girl with black hair in a braided ponytail and orange clothes, had her eyes half shut as she murmured something. Rhyme didn't look so well either.

"_Fading rays, moonlight beams, pitting few against the rest…Honesty, it's what they believe, the bells are ringing, breaking reality…The light and the dark, the sound, it flows, all around. Called by the power of the dream…"_

Suddenly Rhyme covered her face, shoulders shaking, and said at the same time as Yazmin, _"That power is yet unknown."_

Shiki felt chills, and Neku mumbled, "Sounds like something those Pins made people say…"

Beat shook Rhyme gently. "Rhyme? What's th' matter, yo? You okay?!"

Rhyme straightened up, looking disoriented. "Nothing Beat. I just don't know why I said that."

Yazmin was leaning against Sol tiredly. "What was that about?" She asked.

"I don't know, but judging by the quietness around us others must have said it too." Neku observed, surveying the now much more muted crowd. He spotted several other Players, both boys and girls, looking tired and dizzy.

"Most unusual." Sol's eyes narrowed as he spied the other Players.

Shiki heard someone call her name, and she turned her head to see Mr. Hanekoma gesturing to her, standing next to Joshua.

"We've gotta go, guys." Shiki told her friends. They bid farewell to the Mexican kids and headed through the groups to the Producer.

Mr. Hanekoma was frowning slightly, hand resting on the back of his neck as the Players gathered around.

"What are the rules?" Neku asked.

"Listen carefully, Phones." The Angel replied, immediately getting to the point. "It appears this place is different than the usual Games we run. You'll have to go to another city to do their Game, but you'll only be there for a day, and a set number of hours. The Game Master can only attack you after you only have three hours left, otherwise you're off limits. Before the Game Master can fight you, you get to fight Noise and do some simple missions. The Angels won't let them give you some impossible mission only people who've been there awhile know about. Also, every Game will probably be different, they all operate uniquely." He paused to make sure they took it all in, and then continued. "You'll be in there for seven hours. If you don't complete all the missions, that's okay, but if you don't do at least one you're disqualified. The Noise you usually _have_ to Erase, but you also _have_ to beat the Game Master. The Harriers can't send constant swarms of Noise after you, so don't worry."

He sighed, organizing his thoughts, before starting once more.

"You have to have a Pact with someone, and everything else is pretty much the same, except for one fact. You don't automatically heal after a battle; you have to take the cuts. They'll heal faster, but the only way you can actually be Erased in this game permanently and not just be disqualified is if you die from the wounds. Be careful while fighting, and don't forget your health Pins. You're important to your Partner, Phones and Rhyme." He pointed to Neku and Rhyme in turn. "Shiki can't use these kinds of Pins, and neither can Skater." He handed them two golden pins with an emblem of a cross on it. "That'll heal your wounds, but it has limited charges per Game. Understand?"

Neku and Rhyme nodded.

"Shiki and Beat," Mr. Hanekoma shifted his gaze to the duo now. "You're just as important. Can't fight Noise without a Partner."

"What about me?" Eri asked unhappily. "I haven't even done this before."

"I can see why J picked you, Eri." Mr. Hanekoma told her kindly. "You're Imagination levels are off the charts, I'd like to see what would happen if you and Shiki were partners." He looked thoughtful as he said it, eyes focusing somewhere else.

"Not unless it's necessary." Joshua interrupted. Mr. Hanekoma smiled, directing his attention back to the present.

"Okay, boss. No big deal. If one of you becomes too injured to play, Eri will act as replacement for as long as needed, either that, or you can just switch out Partners every now and then. J can heal those who were _badly_ injured, but they have to be left out of a round unless they healed naturally between Games. You'll heal much faster than if you were in the RG, but not enough to heal a broken leg on the spot."

"Why this whole thing at all, yo? Why not jus' leave it?" Beat sounded annoyed.

"The Angels respect those that can take the pain or something like that." Mr. Hanekoma said in a joking tone. "It's to make up for the lack of time. Seven hours and one week are very different."

"Aight. I can respect that."

"Good. J, you can help Eri find her psyche, but that's about it. She'll have to pick up the fighting skills on her own."

"If she's like any of Neku's other friends, she's a fast learner." Joshua replied with a smile in Eri's direction. Eri looked jittery.

"Also, while you're off in another city, Shibuya will be hosting a Game against that city's Players. The wins we get affect our total score, but our points are different than yours. As in, if we don't defeat the opponent's Players, it counts against our total score but yours could fix that."

"Who's going to work with Shibuya?" Rhyme questioned.

"Uzuki will act as Game Master, Def March as the Harriers, and Kariya as Conductor."

"Speaking of Conductors, what do they do?" Shiki said.

Mr. Hanekoma raised his eyebrows. "I'm not sure. They-oh! There we go. They can help the Game Master, but only once in the entire Tournament."

"What happens to the Game Masters when they lose? They _have_ to lose at some point."

"Well, Phones, nothing happens to them. They get restored to full health next Game, same with the Harriers and Conductor. It's against the rules to talk about any other city's Game Master. If you know about Angels, breaking rules in their own Palace is almost _impossible._ They're watching closer than ever to make sure no one cheats."

"I understand." Rhyme spoke for the rest of them.

"Well, that's about it. There are several rounds and we won't fight every city, just a select few. Once we go through the elimination rounds, we'll get to the top when it's just us and one other. Then the Angels will devise a unique three part challenge." He stroked his hair. "And they rate us each round from one to five. I don't know about the point system or how they do it. If you beat the Game Master you'll definitely get a good score, they said. If not, you'll lose points."

"I thought we _had_ to beat the Game Master." Neku stated.

"Ah, well, I said that 'cause you lose a lot of points if you don't, Phones. Try to beat the Master."

"There we have it." Joshua giggled. "Any questions?"

"When do we start?" Neku asked.

"Tomorrow. The Angels will let you stay in their Palace, and provide food, apparently." The Composer replied. "You can trust the Angels not to poison you." He added sarcastically.

"Why can't we go home between Games?" Shiki questioned.

"Do I know?" Joshua sounded annoyed now.

"Who are we against first?" Rhyme said, trying to prevent some of the rising tension.

"They'll tell us in the morning. Let me show you guys your rooms." The Producer said with a shrug of his shoulders.

They followed Mr. Hanekoma, with Shiki nervously squeezing Mr. Mew.

"Sounds complicated."

"We can do this." Neku replied.

~***~

Rhyme watched her friends walk away, but she stayed next to Joshua.

"Get some rest, dear." Joshua murmured.

"What about you?" She asked. "Coming?"

"No. I don't really need to sleep." He placed his fingers against each other, frowning at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I-"He stopped himself. "Never mind. Get some rest."

"O-Okay. Good night, Josh."

"Good night, Rhyme."

She turned around to walk toward Beat, who had paused with the others at the foot of some stairs she hadn't even noticed, when she felt his light touch on her shoulder.

"Be careful. I don't know if I can bring you back if you get Erased here." Joshua said quietly.

She turned to look at him, squeezing his hand. "I'll be okay, don't worry."

"No crazy sacrifices for your brother, hmm?"

"Can't promise that. He's got dreams, I don't, and that means he has a life to live." Before Joshua could say anything else, she ran off.

Joshua looked almost…worriedly after her, and then he thought, _I'd be disappointed if you had said anything else._

_~***~_

_**There we have it, the end of Chapter One. Thank you, all of you, who've reviewed! Before you say anything, I'm aware of the time thing in TWEWY that sometimes says as high as 600 minutes, but I can't believe them fighting Game Masters for 10 hours. So don't bring it up, please. This may or may not escalate pass Joshua and Rhyme friendship, check the poll on my page!**_

_**Next chapter: Shibuya VS Venice**_


	3. Day One: Dark Voices

**_Sorry for the long update breaks, I got sick, and actually missed a school project. Time for the universal disclaimer from my friend the Black Taboo Drake. _**

**_Neoclassical Drake: Inspiration of Imagination does not own The World Ends With You, nor does she own the plot for this. Why? It's a plot based on copyrighted materials from someone else she cannot claim to own without breaking the law, the same with her OC characters._**

**_That sucks. Anyway, turn on the DS, load game, save slot one, day one..._**

**Chapter Two: Shibuya VS Venice**

_Day One: Dark Voices_

Neku rolled over, for a moment thinking he was back in his room. But he knew better than that, his own bed wasn't anyone _near _this soft. He sat up; some unknown force telling him now was time to get dressed and ready. He surveyed the room, with its elegant, white and silver décor and five star hotel appearances. Hell, ten star hotel appearance. Shiki was right, the Angels had gone all out on their hospitality, but he would have been surprised if they hadn't.

There was a soft scent in the air, like flowers, and someone had laid out his clothes on the end of his bed. He made a face, touching the white pajamas he was wearing now, which had been here when he had entered with Mr. Hanekoma.

He went through the morning rituals, changing into the clothes before placing his earphones securely on his head. He brushed their familiar shape with his fingers before double checking the pins in his pants pockets.

There were so many of them, and some were unfamiliar. Joshua had slipped in a Wolf Noise Pin, along with the others that Neku didn't know about.

_"The Composer's are supposed to guide and prepare their Players." _Joshua had told him_. "And they're supposed to participate in the last challenge with you."_

He wouldn't admit it, but Neku would be glad to have Joshua with him in the last challenge.

Neku selected a half dozen he recognized, in their numbers the one Mr. Hanekoma had given him, and headed out of his room.

There was the sound of soft footsteps behind him, and he turned around to see a girl about his age, with black, curly hair.

And orange eyes.

"Hello." She responded to his questioning stare with a cheery wave.

"…Hey." He turned to head for Shiki's room, which was across from his and one door to the left of the short white hallway housing Shibuya's Players, when the girl spoke again.

"Getting ready?"

"What else?" He placed his hand on the doorknob, raising his other hand to knock.

"She's not gonna make it."

He froze.

The girl laughed shrilly. "She's called by the power of the dream."

"What?" Neku demanded, turning to her. The girl clicked her tongue.

"I can't believe you don't know what the power of the dream is. A lot of people don't. Ask Joshua, why don't you? And tell him Rosalie says hi." She turned and skipped off.

"Hey! What the hell do you-"

But she was gone. Cursing under his breath, Neku tapped on Shiki's door. It opened to reveal his friend in her bright purple shirt and white skirt as she adjusted the hat on her head.

"We're heading downstairs now?"

"I guess." He went to get Beat and Shiki got Rhyme, afterwards the friends headed down the spiraling steps into the large white common room. Eri had emerged immediately after Rhyme, nervously trailing behind.

Contestants were already there, and more were joining as they huddled in groups away from each other, messing with their psyches and Pins and tugging at clothes. The noise was muted, and Neku took out his Player Pin and flipped it.

There was the familiar rush of energy, and he closed his eyes.

_Open up your senses._

The thoughts were hidden from him, like he figured, but some weren't. He quickly realized these were the Substitutes, like Eri, who didn't have Player Pins yet. He made a note to tell Joshua in case she accidently gave some info away. They spotted Joshua standing near the far left of the room, and they navigated the crowds before reaching his side.

"First game." Joshua was smiling slightly, elbow in hand as he rested the side of his face in his palm. It was the familiar, scheming position Neku knew so well.

"Yeah. Where's Mr. H?" Neku asked.

"He's not here; he's going to switch between Shibuya and whatever city you're going against to make sure no one cheats." The Composer replied.

Rhyme asked, "Do we all play at once?"

"I don't know. They haven't said." He had his hands in his pockets now, but he looked annoyed, frowning.

"We're waiting for all the contestants." Eri guessed.

"True. Eri, you're to stay with me. We're going to watch the others via our phone. Did Sanae edit your phone?"

"Uh huh." Eri scratched the back of her head. "I don't like not participating, I feel worthless."

"You're not," promised Shiki, smiling at her friend. Neku nodded mutely in agreement, and Beat and Rhyme did too.

"You're not insignificant, if you notice something they miss you can text them. Also, Neku, you have the Health Pin?"

"Of course."

"Good. We should be set." Joshua turned his purple eyes toward the ceiling.

Neku let Eri, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme talk among themselves and instead walked closer to Joshua, lowering his voice.

"You know something." He accused.

"I know a lot of things, dear. To say I didn't know _something_ would be silly."

Suddenly remembering the girl, he asked him, "Who's Rosalie?"

Joshua's eyes narrowed slightly, and then he relaxed. "She's…the Composer of Seattle, Washington. You know that ocean city in the United States?"

When he nodded, Joshua continued, "She and I got into a nasty fight after a disagreement during a meeting between Composers about a few rules a couple of years ago. Luckily we don't interact much anymore. What makes you bring her up?" He sounded dangerous now.

"She was outside my room and told me Shiki was going to give in to the power of the dream, or something."

"Ah, well, that _is_ a problem." Joshua admitted, looking at him with something like apprehension.

Before he could ask why, there was a flash of bright light and a single Angel appeared, his hooded form hanging almost limply in the air.

_"Welcome, Players."_ His voice reverberated like loud music in the room. _"This is the first round of our Tournament. You will automatically be taken to the city you will be participating in, and the mission mail should arrive soon after that. If you have any questions, text your Composer. One set of Players will participate today, but the other set must play at least once every two rounds. If you wish to play today, hold your Player Pin out."_

Joshua told them quietly, "My number should be on your list already. Neku and Shiki, take your pins out."

_"We will begin in two minutes. Good luck."_ The Angel vanished in a ripple effect, like water, and that's when Neku noticed something while removing his Player Pin.

Rhyme was talking to someone who was weaving from side to side slightly. She must have been chatting to him while Neku had thought she had been talking to Beat. The more he looked, the most he disliked the man. He had a green suit and slicked back mousy brown hair, but his eyes were a featureless black. His lips were moving but he couldn't hear him, and Rhyme was looking unsteady on her feet.

Beat noticed too, but Joshua just shook his head and walked forward toward her with Neku following him. He could hear the man now, his voice silky as he continued to sway. He had Italian accent that gave his voice a rich, cultured tone.

"Who are you, little one? Aren't you a little young to be playing?"

"I've…played before…" Rhyme said her eyes wide and unblinking.

"Really? What makes you so special?" He waved, snakelike, from side to side some more.

"I-"

"That's enough." Joshua's voice was icy as he placed his hand on the man's chest and shoved. There was a pulse of energy and the man was thrown backward across the room, slamming the wall. Joshua placed a hand on Rhyme's shoulder and scowled.

"Don't talk to strangers."

The man, Neku saw, stood up as green tattoos encircled his skin. Suddenly, a pudgier man that looked somewhat similar to the snakelike man approached. He had a red, pinstripe suit and dark hair and eyes. His eyes had a bright, friendly gleam to them however.

"Luigi," he said, also in an Italian accent. "Don't try to trick Players, that's against the rules."

Before Neku could hear Luigi's reply, he felt his feet leave the ground as white light enveloped them. When it cleared away, he took in a deep breath of clean air. The sound of running water surrounded him and he spotted boats moving on canals between tan, gold, and pale buildings that loomed over from each side. The sun was rising, turning everything scarlet.

Shiki said excitedly, "We're in Venice! This is Italy!"

Neku felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he took it out. "The mail."

Shiki did the same, and she read it aloud. "_'Reach the Rialto Bridge. You have seventy minutes. Fail and you will be done away with. The Reapers.'_"

"They don't waste any time, huh?" Neku said as he winced at the searing pain in his hand.

"Guess not. Let's find the bridge." Shiki suggested, looking around them. "Heard of the Rialto Bridge?"

Glancing at the seventy minute counter on his hand, Neku nodded. "Yeah, it crosses the Grand Canal. There should be shops on either side of it."

"Let's take a boat ride." Shiki decided, heading across the plaza they were standing in. Citizens walked right through them as the friends studied some signs.

"Easy, see? From where we're standing, this sign says a boat will come ten minutes from now, take us to the Rialto Bridge, and it'll only take forty minutes."

"How do you know?" He asked, studying the thoughts of those around him for any signs of Noise or possible danger.

"Remember what that kid said about the UG having one language? Well, I don't know why, but I can understand this sign by looking at it."

Neku leaned forward, studying the pale yellow sign with the curling black text. "I can't read it."

Shiki waved her arms in a panic. "W-what? What do you mean you can't read it?"

"I can't read it," he stated flatly. "I just see a bunch of Italian words, and a little English that I can pick out that does, in fact, say the Rialto Bridge is where this boat stops at."

Shiki looked confused, brushing her glasses up her nose. "Well, we can try to walk there ourselves, or just take the boat."

"I say we take the boat. We could easily get lost."

"Ah, _fanciullo,_ it's only a good idea if there are not people trying to Erase you, hmm? Can't have the Boss getting mad at me. Staying still makes you easy to find."

A man approached them, also wearing a suit, with blonde hair that was an untidy mess on his head. He had electric blue eyes and thin, long fingers that vaguely reminded Neku of a bird. He grinned, then raised one hand and pointed a finger at them.

Noise portals opened, two on each side of them, and Shiki removed Mr. Mew while Neku pulled out some Pins, deftly carrying one between each of his fingers.

The portals were unfamiliar, the tattoo bands forming into something vaguely resembling a lion. It opened its mouth and dropped several Noise, and Neku felt the light sweep him away as he prepared to battle them in the separate dimension from Shiki.

_"We can do this, Neku!"_ Shiki's voice urged in his head.

Neku pulled back just as a pale white Noise fox, with tattoo claws and a tail, lashed out at him. He flicked his wrist, sending out a blast of howling fire that claimed the fox quickly, making it scamper backward to avoid the red flames. He twisted; dodging a purple frog that had launched at him. Some of the Noise was familiar, others were unusual. From the canal beside him, in a blast of white sparkles, a Noise shark rose up and lashed at his back. Neku fell flat on his stomach to avoid the jaws, and the shark ended up biting the frog in half. Static rained down around his head, coating Neku briefly with the cold, sharp fragments before it vanished too.

A pain in his shoulder, it was brief and only lasted a heartbeat, but he knew Shiki had taken a hit.

_"Having trouble?" _He asked. Neku was surprised; usually Shiki had gathered enough energy for them to do a Fusion by now.

_"Just not feeling it." _She sounded distracted.

_"Well, _start_ feeling it before we feel nothing. We're wasting time."_

Neku took the fox on, racing by and slamming into it with the wolf Noise's equal of the Velocity Pin. The fox stumbled backward before lashing out with its tail and catching his leg. Neku twisted, slashing with his arm and feeling the rush of energy as the streak appeared in the form of a sharp, silver line that caught the fox in its chest. It stumbled backward again, and then charged him. Neku was prepared for it, but then it vanished in midair. Shiki must have got it.

The shark was popping in and out of the canal, gnashing its teeth, before leaping all the way out and heading straight for Neku. He stepped aside, expertly catching it in its back as it leaped by. It vanished in the ground, and Neku sensed Shiki's exultation from the battle.

He never felt more alive than when he was fighting death.

The shark reappeared, and this time Neku sensed the energy inside him that signified a Fusion.

"Ready to die?" Shiki asked, her voice sounding closer as she joined his realm.

"Then die!"

They warped between dimensions, each warp sending out a pulse that struck the poor shark again and again. On each pass they struck at the Noise until it exploded in a burst of static. The attack was much stronger than usual, Neku realized.

They returned to the normal realm, and they saw the Harrier frowning.

"Rats, I guess I'm beaten." He shrugged, rustling his spiny red and black wings. "See you." He turned around and simply walked off.

"How odd." Shiki mused.

"The boat!"

The friends raced to the boat, which had begun to take off, and they settled into its confines. While Shiki looked around, surveying everything and humming in delight at the fact she was in _Venice_, Neku flipped the Player Pin.

Thoughts crowded his mind, but he understood their mental meaning despite not really speaking the language.

_"Look at all of these American tourists; I knew it was a good idea to speak English."_

_"The weepers are here…why are the weepers here?"_

_"The Rialto Bridge is always crowded, how's a guy to drive a boat over there without hitting something?"_

Neku opened his eyes, looking at the crowded canal.

"Shiki."

"Hmm?"

"Is anything the matter?" He asked, thinking of Rosalie's mysterious message.

_"She's not gonna make it. She's called by the power of the dream."_

"No…" She turned her brown eyes on him. "Why do you ask?"

"I-"He lowered his head. _Do I tell her? I don't even know what the power of the dream is…Does she?_

She brought her hands up to her chest, her eyes soft and slightly worried. It was a familiar, endearing expression that Neku knew so well, because it was _her_ motion, _her_ stance, not Eri's. Something that he recognized even while trying to get used to her looking like that, and when he kept calling Eri "Shiki" by accident.

"Do you know what the power of the dream is?" He asked.

"That thing Yazmin and Rhyme were talking about?" She shook her head. "No. Do you?"

"Why would I ask if I knew?" He snapped, looking out over the water. He heard her soft footsteps, and he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Is something bothering _you?_"

_I'm…worried I'm going to lose you._

He was saved from having to reply by the sound of a Noise portal opening behind them.

"Crap." He muttered. Shiki turned around, and Mr. Mew leaped to the ground and jumped from foot to foot in anticipation. Neku removed his own Pins from his pocket.

The Noise that emerged was…strange looking. It had a tattoo snout, it was long and thin, and the rest of its body was hard and solid. The claws on its paws were red bands, but the entire bulk of the Noise was mostly dull brown. Narrowed, white and black eyes stared at them and its long tongue emerged from the thin snout, also graffiti style.

Neku heard Shiki whoosh away from him, and he positioned himself to attack the ant eater Noise. The ant eater summoned a Noise portal, either that or someone opened one, and Neku gasped in surprise as something tore at his back. It was so silent he hadn't been aware something was there. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a rabbit Noise hop away, a black and white pin in its mouth…

The ant eater shambled forward, lashing its tongue out like a whip. Neku flinched, preparing to dodge, but the tongue had touched a person. From that person, Neku suddenly forcibly felt a rush of aggressive emotion that made his vision cloud red. Without thinking, he jumped forward to blindly attack the Noise.

~***~

Shiki directed Mr. Mew at the ant eater, feeling the energy at her fingertips as she moved her cat. She mimed her movements and he completed them, swiping at the ant eater's snout.

Suddenly, she doubled over for a brief moment. Neku's connection with her had flared painfully, and for one heartbeat she felt filled with rage. Then it was gone.

_"Neku?"_

She felt nothing but anger on his end. The ant eater swiped its tongue and touched a woman on the boat. Shiki felt…very distantly…a blast of fear. That was all, and then it was gone.

Neku, however, appeared to be so angry he was taking pain without being aware of it. Shiki raised her hands to block as a rabbit Noise descended on her, claws ripping harmlessly at the energy she summoned to shield herself. She lashed out at the rabbit, and it landed a few feet away. She jumped to dodge a dangerous pair of tattoo claws, but every heartbeat brought a pulse of pain from Neku.

_"Neku, what's wrong?"_

No reply and she pulled back as the rabbit leaped at her again. It was so silent, so transparent, that it was almost entirely unnoticeable.

"Like it?"

Shiki turned to dodge the ant eater's claws, and it calmly pulled them back, slowly, eyeing her patiently. The rabbit hopped forward, but she knocked it back again.

"It's a new Noise, specially made to get pins. We're the only ones who have them, because they were just created yesterday. Just for Neku and those like him." The voice continued, sounding amused. She spotted a blue suit, then the shine of a shaved head. A Reaper. "They work well with the ant eater Noise, don't they?"

_Just for Neku…his Player Pin!_

She concentrated her attack on the rabbit Noise, but no matter what she did it got back up. Beginning to wear down, especially since the energy building up couldn't be released until Neku chose to, she tried to take down the ant eater. Every sidestep, every leap, every thrash at its thick hide tired her down more, and the pain from Neku radiated longer inside of her the more the battle lasted. She almost tripped, but determination kept her on her feet as she sent out Mr. Mew in a shockwave of energy.

Finally, thank God, the ant eater collapsed in an explosion of static. She then was surprised when the rabbit vanished with it in one hit. There was a clatter, and Shiki realized Neku's Pin had dropped. She snatched it off the ground as they entered the normal realm, and pressed it into his hand while he stood there disoriented.

"Shiki?"

"Rabbit Noise, it specializes in stealing Pins." She informed him. Neku just muttered to himself. "We're here." She added, stepping off the boat and leading him to the grand, white bridge that spanned the water. It was majestic, with a roof, designs, and several windows built into it naturally.

The timer vanished from their palms, but Shiki knew another mission would be here soon.

"Should we keep doing more?"

"The more points the better." He replied. She realized he was bleeding, the scratches were thin mostly, but there was a deeper gash on his shoulder that had torn away a portion of his sleeve. She lightly touched the gash, brushing her fingers gently across his ripped skin.

"Do you need to use a Pin?" She asked, worried. On every heartbeat she distantly felt the pain he did.

"No, it's not that bad." He turned around. "Let's head over onto the bridge."

They headed up some steps that threaded alongside the bridge, and then stood on it, looking out across the water as it shone with the sun. Shiki suddenly felt her eyelids droop, and a voice spoke in her mind.

_Don't you wish it was always like this, just you and him?_ The voice was unfamiliar, with an almost purring tint to it.

"Did…you say something?"

Neku looked at her, his smoky blue eyes concerned. "No."

"O-oh…"

"What did you hear?" He demanded.

A ring. "Er-look! Mission mail!" She quickly pulled out her phone and studied it. "_'Relieve the pressure on Erberia and Pescharia. You have three and a half hours. Fail, and be done away with. The Reapers.'_"

She grimaced at the pain in her palm, but ignored it. "What do they mean, Erberia and Pescharia? Are they people?"

Neku shrugged. "Let's ask someone. One of these shops _has _to have a Reaper decal."

They headed right from where they were, ending up in a throng of people that milled among fruits and vegetable stalls. Somehow, Shiki could still smell the food as they passed. It was fresh and a delight to see, some of the greenery was in buildings, others simple stalls lined with booths and other things, with hastily scrawled English signs that showed the prices.

They spotted a health store with a marker in the corner, almost unnoticeable thanks to the balcony's shadow overhead. As they walked inside, she felt the barely perceptible shift as she joined the RG.

The shopkeeper was a lanky man with gray hair and a thick beard. He had dark green eyes that slid over them with a practiced look, but he didn't appear threatening.

"Ah, you're tourists, correct?"

"How'd you know?" Shiki asked.

"You look lost, is all." He told them. Once again Shiki wondered how they understood him, since she didn't speak English or Italian. Just Japanese.

_Maybe the Angels…?_

"Yes," Shiki said politely. "We're looking for whatever Erberia and Pescharia is?"

The man laughed. "You're _standing_ in Erberia, dear."

Neku caught on quickly. "Erberia is a district."

"That's right. It's a portion of Rialto; farther down you'll enter Pescharia. Erberia is a greengrocer district, while Pescharia is more of a fish market." He informed them.

"Thank you so much." Shiki grinned, tugging at Neku's sleeve. "Let's go."

"Whoa there, missy. Your friend is injured. Let me patch it up, and take an apple for the road."

Neku impatiently let the man treat his wound, to Shiki's relief, and they thanked the man, paying him with Italian money they didn't even know they had, though he insisted they didn't need to.

"It's the equal of the money we had in yen." Shiki said in surprise as they stood once more in the UG. Neku shrugged.

"Whatever. They want us to 'relieve the pressure on Erberia and Pescharia', that must means there are Noise around." Neku flipped his Pin, and Shiki did the same.

The thoughts leaped to her mind, but she shifted through them, finding several people possessed with Noise and in a foul mood.

"Should we chain them together?" She suggested.

"Only if you think we can take them all in a row."

"Let's try. And watch out for rabbit Noise."

He nodded, extending his hands as he summoned the Noise to them. She felt the energy ripple as she was changed over to her separate realm.

The Noise came in swarms, biting, clawing, and howling in unison as they approached. Shiki sent out Mr. Mew into the chaos, sweeping him left and right, destroying Noise. Every once in a while a Noise would sneak past her and end up slashing at her legs and shoulders.

Combined with Fusions and their own efforts, the Noise were Erased.

Neku did a quick scan. "That's all the Noise possessing people in Erberia. Let's head to Pescharia."

Shiki glanced at her hand. "Eek! We only have an hour and fifteen minutes!"

Neku said nothing, just led her through the crowds. They crossed the steps on the Rialto Bridge, moving to the fish market. Wrinkling her nose at the smell, Shiki glanced left and right as Neku hastily chained the Noise together.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him before she was whisked away.

_"I'm fine. You?"_

_"I can manage."_

Shiki danced and skipped from side to side, immediately aiming for the rabbit Noise. To her irritation, they were connected to another Noise she had to get rid of first before they vanished. Neku swore explosively, and she knew it had stolen a Pin from him.

_"Which Pin?"_

His voice in her mind was annoyed. _"My Roaring Dragon Pin."_

The "Roaring Dragon" was a Pin Joshua had given him, Shiki recalled, that was like the Pyrokinetic Pin but much stronger. It was Unbranded.

Shiki eradicated a panting wolf before it could get her, and in the outburst of static that followed she heard a voice.

_Isn't it nice he depends on you? To be useful?_

She gave a startled yelp, which gave a frog Noise enough of an opening to rip into her back. She twisted around, batting it off with Mr. Mew before striking it into the ground. She shifted to the side as a bird swooped down, and struck it into the wall beside her.

Finally, the rabbit Noise was taken down since its Frog partner had just been defeated. With his Pin returned, Neku went to town on the Noise, harming several at once. Shiki felt a pulse of healing energy from him as he used the Pin, and it patched up all of the wounds across her body, and even fixed the holes in her clothes.

The sun traveled down the horizon, staining the city red and yellow. When the last Noise had been defeated, the timer vanished from their hands in a rush of cooling energy.

"What a relief." Shiki sighed. "I think the Game Master can attack now."

Neku crossed his arms. "I'm sure he will. Or she."

They didn't get another mission mail, and decided to buy something to eat at a small café near the Rialto Bridge. Shiki giggled a little, biting into the bread.

"Wow, they can make a mean pizza."

"Of course they can." Neku responded with a roll of his eyes, sipping his drink and eyeing the people in the restaurant.

The phone rang, and Neku checked it. "_'Well done. Return to the Rialto Bridge to challenge the Game Master there. You have two hours. Fail and you will be done away with. The Reapers.'_" The timer seared its way across their hands, and they grimaced.

"Let's go." Neku paid for the food, and then they headed out into the streets. Walking up the multiple steps that seemed to comprise the bridge mainly, Neku and Shiki stopped near the middle of it, looking around.

"Look!"

Following Shiki's finger, Neku glared at the two figures facing them.

The bald man and the electric blue eyed man. They smiled and bowed.

"_Benissimo!_ Very good!" The bald man said. "I am Angelo, and I'm impressed with you." He bowed, spreading his white tinged black wings. Then he turned and walked away, hands in pockets.

The other man made a face. "Yes, yes. _Benissimo,_ _fanciullo._ I'm Tony, and you've bested me. But can you defeat Luigi?" He chuckled, and then walked away also.

There was a voice behind them. "Ah, you would be the children that uppity ashen haired Composer recruited, would you not? I am Luigi, and prepare to face your doom!"

Shiki and Neku whirled around to see the same green suited man that had been messing with Rhyme. He smiled, spreading long, dark wings that framed themselves against the reddening sky. He spread his hands upward, laughing, and Shiki heard the thump of her heart increase the more she watched. The man's skin became covered in tattoos, bright green ones in waving patterns, and his eyes slid toward them with poison bright pupils and bristling teeth.

His voice was distorted as the tattoos rose upward and became three dimensional, his body now mostly composed of graffiti streaks. "Are you ready for _Cantus Serpens?_"

His wings encircled him fully now, and the light flashed Shiki away from Neku into the Noise dimensions.

When the light cleared, rearing above her was a large, long, emerald green snake with yellow and green eyes. His body was mostly tattoo markings, with the only solid thing being his head. He weaved from side to side, swayingand flicking his long tongue.

"Succumb!" The serpent hissed, striking out at Shiki. She raised her arms to guard, the energy blocking his bite. She struck out with Mr. Mew, bouncing him off of his head. Cantus Serpens pulled back, long fangs gleaming, striking at her again. Shiki stumbled backward, unbalanced, when his tail swished her off of her feet.

SLAM!

His fangs slid into her skin, and she screamed involuntarily as she felt burning poison contaminate her system. The snake coiled around her, squeezing hard.

_"Shiki!" _Neku shouted in her head.

With difficulty she aimed Mr. Mew at the snake's face, knocking him back and releasing her from his grip. The poison made her thrash for a moment before she scrambled to her feet and directed her cat at the snake's chest. She felt the energy release and expand as Neku activated a Fusion. Mr. Mew grew to gigantic proportions and fired lasers at the stunned snake, whom collapsed on the ground, wiggling for a moment. The Fusion healed some of her injuries but the venom remained. Doing her best to ignore it, she dodged a tail sweep and bashed her cat against Luigi's head again. The snake must have hit Neku, for three heartbeats she felt his pain as the monster evidently bit his shoulder.

_"How're you holding up?"_ She asked.

_"It's stinging pretty bad, I'm poisoned."_

_"How many charges on the Health Pin?"_

_"Two left." _Neku replied tersely.

_"Use one."_

The energy arrived, cleansing her system of the toxin and leaving her refreshed and ready. She skipped forward, jumping into the air and sending Mr. Mew toward the snake again. He pulled back to dodge it, then lashed out lightning fast to catch her, only to be foiled by her guard.

The battle dragged on, but Neku must have done something, because when Shiki dodged another attack the next second Cantus Serpens, "Singing Snake", had frozen. He opened his jaws, tongue hanging limply, before his eyes widened. His form turned to pure static, and then he dissipated.

_"Alright, what's next?"_ Neku asked casually.

When she returned to the UG, Luigi's green tattoos had pulled away, drifting limply upward. "How did you beat me, you're a bunch of _fanciullo!_ Children! Impossible." He bent over, breathing hard. "And you only had one minute left. Good…job." He wheezed. He extended his hand and their timers, which had frozen after he was defeated, vanished. "Good job." He repeated. "Head back to your starting point and The Composer and Conductor should reward you…" His wings covered him and he vanished.

"Way to go!" Shiki told Neku, hugging him tightly. He grumbled, pushing her off.

"Yeah, incredible work. Let's go."

Neku and Shiki headed away toward their starting point, taking the same boat they had rode to the Rialto on. They leaned against the railings, and even though she didn't say anything about how tired she was, the truth was her entire body felt fatigued. True, she didn't have much in the ways of injuries, but the sheer activity had exhausted her. She leaned against his shoulder, and he just wrapped an arm around her.

"Tired?" He teased, his eyes looking down at her.

"Just a little. I guess Beat and Rhyme will do tomorrow's Game?"

"They better. That poison took a lot out of me."

The boat ride was done in silence from then on, and they stepped off of it to see a man in a red pinstripe suit, a man in a black suit, and a woman in a pink suit. They all smiled, and it looked similar, Shiki thought.

The woman stepped forward; she had dark black hair with a bluish shine, like a raven's wing. Her pale brown eyes twinkled. "My name is Carmelita, well done. I'm the Conductor of Venice."

The man in the red suit grinned. "I'm Mario, and I congratulate you. I'm the Producer."

The Composer in the black suit frowned with an annoyed look in his navy eyes, the carroty hair on his head slicked back. "I'm Giovanni, great work, young ones. Take this." He walked forward and pressed a gold and red Pin depicting the Rialto Bridge in Neku's hand.

"What's this for?" Neku asked.

"You'll find out if you win, yes?" Giovanni chuckled, and the Producer raised a hand.

"Excellent effort, once more. See you."

A white light covered them, and when it cleared away they were back in the Angel Palace_,_ with a grinning Joshua and a smiling Eri greeting them.

"Excellent, Neku. I knew you could do it, dear." Joshua told them.

"Nice job, Shiki, Neku!" Eri praised them. "We're watching Uzuki fight the Italian kids. Josh thinks she's winning."

Looking at Eri's phone, Shiki made out a pinkish-red weasel attacking some children.

"Beat and Rhyme are in their rooms, preparing for their Game tomorrow beforehand. Why don't you get some rest, and Sanae will let you know when the food is ready."

"They're just going to hand out food?" Shiki said in surprise.

"Of course." Joshua looked at her and smirked, then nodded at Neku. "The Italian Pin is going to be needed when we get to the last three challenges."

Neku gestured to Shiki. "Let's go tell Beat and Rhyme what happened."

Shiki followed him, and a voice spoke in her ear.

_With my help, you can win…_

_~***~_

Uzuki was, to say the least, thrilled. She loved more than anything the fact she had been promoted, not just to an officer rank, but _Game Master_ too.

All thanks to Kariya. Of course she owed him who knows how many bowls of ramen, but she was grateful.

Right now she was sending out missions left and right, giving the kids no breaks in between. The Harriers were constantly sending Noise after them as often as the rules allowed, and she had to admit she was enjoying herself. The Italian kids were annoying her though, especially that brainy girl, Bianca. She and her partner, Adamo, were having trouble finding Hachiko though. She snickered as they wasted fifteen good minutes before the girl went into a shop to ask.

Now they were heading for Hachiko, then they were fighting Noise, and upon reaching the dog statue, Uzuki's watch announced there were only three hours left in the game. The minimum to starting the GM fight was two hours.

Excellent. She would get to try her new Noise form. She prowled to the top of Pork City after sending out the mission mail, laughing because she_ knew_ they probably didn't know where to go.

Twenty minutes later they arrived, the blonde girl determinedly dragging her tired friend with her. Uzuki giggled, attracting their attention, and waved a long finger tauntingly.

"Well, took you long enough. I could have left and got a bowl of ramen and been back in time to meet you."

Bianca smirked. "We didn't come here to talk." Her tone was steady but her eyes were cautious.

"Honestly, neither did I." Uzuki replied with a sneer, flexing her wings.

Ohh that felt nice. Reaper's powers were in their wings, and hers were much bigger now. She let the tattoos flow like water down her body and across it, flattening them and expanding them while glaring at the kids. She reared up, lashing her new tail, face narrowing as it transformed into the muzzle of a weasel.

Her blue eyes became more pointed as she lifted into the air, a ferret like being comprised of pink and red streaks. She flexed long claws and descended down on the boy.

She actually existed in both realms at the same time, it was disorienting but she got the hang of it quickly. She had parallel vision, somehow her mind was aware of everything that was happening and she operated accordingly.

That boy, that annoying boy, was attacking her with his bare hands. A melee fighter, hmm? She'd show him! Uzuki whirled around, catching him with his tail and slamming him repeatedly into the ground. Her other dimensional self had encircled her body around that irritating, Pin using girl and was clawing and biting at her. Bianca removed herself from Uzuki's grip with a powerful blast of ice to the weasel's face. Confused, Uzuki pulled back, hissing, clawing at the ice hardening around her muzzle.

She swore angrily, cracking open an eye and causing chips of ice to fall to the ground.

"That's it, I'm pissed off now!" The Game Master screeched, descending on Adamo whom had just struck her with some kind of karate chop. The boy was unprepared for the endless, raw _fury_ Uzuki was displaying. She basically tore into the poor boy, clawing and biting and slamming him into the ground, rolling over and pressing him underneath her as she pinned him down.

Bianca started to slow due to the massive damage being inflicted on her partner, and before she could activate a Fusion, Uzuki, still in an uncontrolled rage that neither of the Italian Players had ever seen before, knocked the Pins from her grip. She still had ice on her face and was fighting with only the sight from one eye, and missed the lightning that struck her in the side.

If anything, this infuriated her more and she flipped Bianca into the air with her muzzle, catching her with one paw and slamming her down. Adamo stumbled away from her as her other self coiled her long body to pounce, but before Uzuki could get either of them, _because they were hers damn it_, she saw through her one good eye on the bottom realm a figure suddenly emerge in front of Bianca.

"You win, Pinky. They can't take any more, and the timer's up anyway."

She blinked, relaxing her muscles. What? It was over already? Pity, she was having fun too. Uzuki pouted, flattening her ears. "That's all?"

"You can do some more tomorrow, lady." Hanekoma told her. "The Composer wants me to tell you he's _greatly_ pleased with you." He teleported the kids away and Uzuki returned to her normal form.

She grinned hugely. "The Composer himself said that?"

"He did. And Lollipop says learn to control that temper of yours, it can be good for fighting sometimes and other times…"

"Yeah, yeah…" She crossed her arms, feeling smug. Then she recalled what he said, and screamed, "My name is not Pinky!"

~***~  
**_Very special thanks to James Firebrand for Beta-ing this. Also, thanks to RawkstarVienna for basically reminding me I do, in fact, have a story to write. I have to ask you guys to check out Vienna's fanfictions, "Crossing" in particular, since it's honestly one of the best TWEWY fanfics on here._**

**_Also, they can ride the boat because I think some things are solid even in the UG. Like buildings. I know some of this stuff doesn't make sense, but I wanted to keep a bit of their culture in their voices, hence the accents, or the untranslated words. Some of this will be explained later._**

**_Next Chapter: Shibuya VS New York_**


	4. Day Two: Flashes

**Chapter Three: Shibuya VS New York**

_Day Two: Flashes_

Rhyme was dreaming.

It was unusual for her since the Game, but not unheard of, and she turned over in her bed.

_It looked like a forest of sorts, but everything was rather featureless and white. The things she guessed were trees rose around her, and a white mist coated everything in sight. Rhyme turned her head, catching a glimpse of something pink and furry._

_It was…her own Noise form. She knelt down, surprised, brushing her fingers along its back. It hummed, delighted, before blinking at her and bristling its fur._

_It was angry? What for?_

_Before Rhyme could ask, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Joshua smiling at her._

_"Where am I?" She asked him. He cocked his head to the side, puzzled. Then he stepped back, and she saw angel wings, surprisingly spiny, the feathers sharp, expand from behind his back. He paused then, arms behind him, and he looked at her sadly. His voice echoed as he spoke._

_"Are you aware of the power of the dream?"_

_"N-no." She recalled that strange, icy sensation and the way her mouth had moved on its own accord as she mumbled "that power is yet unknown" with Yazmin and the other kids._

_"Until you know, I can't help you."_

She woke up, gasping, realizing she was sweating for some reason. Rhyme pulled back the sleeves on her white sleeping shirt and looked at her watch.

It was four AM; even the Angels didn't start Games this early. She went back to sleep, puzzling over the words.

~***~

Rhyme had been already up and ready, Pins securely in her pants pockets, long before Beat had even gotten out of his bed. She followed him downstairs, smiling as he grumbled to himself.

"Yo, Rhyme…you think its weird the Angels jus' dish out food?"

"Not really." She replied, remembering the appetizing food they had had yesterday, and the conversation with the Italian kids.

_Mr. Hanekoma had led them to a large eating hall with the other Players after Neku and Shiki's Game against Venice. An Angel was watching them from her position on a balcony, and Mr. H assured them it was so no one tried anything dirty. There were foods of all kinds and flavors, and she had been reminded of some gigantic pot luck. She had sat down near the end of the table with Beat, surrounded by their friends, and Joshua had grinned._

_"Uzuki did a fine job of taking down the Italian kids, but I've been sure to tell her I don't expect her to win every little Game. If she wins more than half, she can be permanent Game Master." He idly stirred his soup with a spoon. "These are elite Players, after all. Her Noise form is more unique; it exists in both realms like a regular Noise, and doesn't use a Shadow as a partner nor does it warp from realm to realm like Sho's."_

_Rhyme bit into the bread, surprised by the utter deliciousness of it. She sighed as Beat basically inhaled a plate of spaghetti. She looked at Joshua. "Where are the Italian kids she fought?"_

_He pointed down the table from them to a girl with blonde hair and a boy with reddish brown. "Why do you ask?"_

_"I want to talk to them," Rhyme informed him, standing up and walking over._

_The girl lifted her head as she approached; it had been on her arms which had been crossed on the table. "Hey."_

_"Hi, I'm Rhyme." She smiled, linking her arms behind her back. "I heard about your loss against our Game Master." She added sympathetically. Anyone would have thought she was making fun of them, but the Italian kids didn't, because Rhyme just had that…friendly look on her face. "Are you hurt badly?"_

_"Oh." The girl sat up. "Are you that girl that beat Luigi?"_

_"No, that was my friend Shiki."_

_"I'm Bianca, and he's Adamo. Yeah, Adamo was hurt terribly but Giovanni healed him. I've got to partner up with someone else later if Giovanni puts me in the next Game, but he probably won't. He's mad at me for losing the first Game."_

_"It's only the first round. I'm sure you'll go far." Rhyme assured her._

_"Thanks." Bianca smiled at her, and Adamo nodded mutely, rubbing his shoulder._

It was the meeting with the Italian kids that Rhyme was thinking about when Joshua called her name. She wanted to become friends with the other Players despite being against them, even though not _directly_ in opposition to them. She snapped out of her thoughts and headed toward Joshua.

"Thinking hard, hmm?" The Composer asked her. Beat punched the air.

"We're ready for whateva those Angels are gonna throw at us! Bring it _on_!"

"That's nice; the Angel should be appearing very soon." The violet eyed teen said back. "Neku and Shiki will arrive shortly. They got a score of five out of five." Here Joshua smirked hugely. "Uzuki got a score of four out of five, for almost going too far, but that's good enough. We're tied with two others for first."

Rhyme smiled and suddenly from behind her Eri walked forward. She looked unhappy.

"What's wrong, Eri?"

She sighed. "Rhyme, Josh and I tried, but we can't find my psyche, and I don't work well with Pins."

"We'll find it." Joshua responded dismissively. "Everyone has one. And your Imagination is too high to _not _have one. On normal terms, in a regular Game, your psyche would make itself known without any help."

Eri looked like she was going to argue, but a massive yawn interrupted her.

"Sorry," Shiki apologized, appearing with Neku. "I'm still a little worn out from the snake venom."

Neku raised his eyebrows at her but said nothing about it. "When's the Angel due?"

The next moment, in a flash of light, a female Angel in a hooded robe appeared. She eyed the crowd, which had quieted down, and informed them: _"Welcome to Day Two of the Tournament. As usual, hold out your Player Pins to participate in today's challenge, it will begin in one minute."_

She vanished again, and Joshua made a face. "They need to explain more, but they were always fond of secrecy."

Neku asked, "Is Mr. Hanekoma back in Shibuya?"

"He's got to," Joshua giggled. "Uzuki goes haywire on Players often, but Kariya is watching her whenever he isn't."

Rhyme pulled out her Player Pin, touching its design lightly, and she glanced around at the kids near them. "I've noticed our Pins look different."

"They all are, but they work the same." The Composer said like it was obvious.

Beat cracked his fists. "Hell, this'll be easy, right Rhyme?"

"Don't get yourself killed, Beat." Eri said, looking worriedly at him.

"Ah, we can handle this."

Rhyme nodded in agreement, and gasped when something landed on her shoulder. She whirled around but no one was there.

"Rhyme?" Shiki asked worriedly.

"Did you-"

Joshua raised his eyebrows and the others exchanged doubtful glances.

Worried, Rhyme tried to explain when she felt her feet leave the ground in a flash of brilliant radiance. When it cleared, cars zoomed around them and sounds erupted in her ears. Great buildings were everywhere, a herd of people crossed a gigantic intersection, and the windows reflected everything but the two stunned Players that were staring around the concrete jungle with a surprised expression.

She read the sign: Times Square.

"We're in New York!" Rhyme exclaimed to a surprised Beat.

"That big place in the US?" Her brother commented. He glanced around. "Not much worse than Shi-"

Their phones rang, and Rhyme pulled it out. "The mission mail! Let's see…_'Reach Central Park. You have no time limit. How the hell can you fail this? The Reapers.'_" She raised her eyebrows. "Who's this weird guy?"

"No idea, but-"

Suddenly Rhyme reread the message, her brother's voice fading.

_You have no time limit._

She was treated to a flash of a car, the roar of a shark Noise, her life ending and flashing before her eyes-

"Yo, Rhyme! What's th' matter?"

She blinked rapidly, shaking her head. "Nothing, let's go."

Rhyme and Beat set off down the road, Beat rolling along on his skateboard. Everything was more chaotic than Shibuya, not as well organized, and Rhyme was secretly grateful to be in the UG; the roaring cars bothered her.

As they turned a street corner, Rhyme couldn't stop the fear from eating at her heart. She kept looking down, searching for a Noise symbol, her eyes wide and apprehensive.

Beat caught her in a hug briefly before they continued. Reassured, the girl jogged with him.

"Let's stop in this shop and look at a map, or ask someone, just to be sure." Rhyme suggested, pointing to a store with a hidden Reaper's decal. Beat agreed, and together the Bito siblings stepped inside the store.

A fan shed dancing shadows across the room, the light was a dull orange shade, but all and all the store was relatively clean and neat. Rhyme approached the shopkeeper to ask for directions while Beat browsed the store, mostly just waiting for her.

Afterwards, the two left the shop with Rhyme leading the way.

"How're we readin' these signs?" Beat grumbled, causing his sister to smile.

"Must have something to do with the UG." She replied, knowing her brother was probably just thinking out loud.

Twenty minutes later, Rhyme spotted the park ahead of them. It was flanked by green trees on all sides, the grass stretching around a large blue lake, and people were crowded everywhere they looked.

Rhyme knelt down by the water, still inwardly searching for a Noise symbol, when Beat swore behind her.

"Noise, Rhyme!"

She stood up, turning around, just as a Noise symbol launched itself at her. She felt the whoosh of the energy as it whirled her away to her separate dimension, and she pulled her pins out, skipping backward and delivering a kick to the cat it discharged before it could scratch her.

It hissed, glowing tattoo tails waving behind it like a river of light, before it bunched its muscles and leaped at her, claws extended. Rhyme flicked her wrist, causing tumbling rocks to cascade down on the cat. It gave a screech of wild fury before retreating again, circling her wearily.

Rhyme felt the energy build up rapidly as Beat set off his chain combos for a Fusion, and she bided her time as she fought some Noise birds until it was at its peak.

When the roaring tidal wave was unleashed, it decimated the remaining Noise in a cascading thunder of water. Rhyme flicked her hair from her eyes as she faced Beat. "That wasn't so bad. Predictable."

Her brother was staring at her in something like surprise.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"Tha'…that hair thing ya jus' did."

Rhyme unknowingly flicked her hair again; the action so absentminded she wasn't aware of it. "I'm sorry?"

"He's rubbin' off on ya, Rhyme." Beat complained. "He does that hair thing too, that annoyin' flick."

Rhyme blinked. "Who's-oh."

She figured it out then; Beat must have been referring to Joshua. She smiled. Joshua wasn't a bad person, but the manipulative Composer wasn't exactly her type. Or so she thought.

Rhyme smiled, laughing to herself. "It's no big deal, Beat. My hair _is_ longer now-what's the matter?"

Beat's eyes had gone all wide. "Y-you just…giggled."

"So?"

"He giggles…and flips his hair. Ya gotta stop that." Beat grumbled.

Rhyme crossed her arms but didn't reply, and the phone rang again. She grabbed it out of her pocket and studied it, trying to hide her irritation. "_'Reach the Empire State Building. You have no time limit. Don't screw this up. The Reapers.'_"

Beat suddenly yelped, "Bwaa!"

"What?" Rhyme jumped, looking around rapidly, but her gaze fell only on the crowds of people and the grass around them. The waves lapped at the shore of the lake, and she saw a man cannonball into the liquid.

"Y-ya gotta stop! Quit it, you're freakin' me out, Rhyme!" Beat's eyes were narrowed in something like anger, or maybe fear. Hard to tell sometimes.

"What?" She asked, exasperated.

"You took the phone out and stood just like he does, with that same annoyed look on your face, with your hand in your pocket and-"

"Calm down," Rhyme assured him, taking his hand. "It's okay. No big deal."

Beat hesitated, and then nodded. "You're right, just overreacting yo. Let's head for the Empire building."

It was really noticeable, even from where they were standing, towering above the other buildings in this city of gray, black, and white. A light flashed on the very tip, almost like a beacon calling to them.

The clouds were gathering and a chill wind blew, or so Rhyme guessed by the people huddling farther into their jackets. She studied the sky as she followed Beat; he kept a tight grip on her hand as though afraid she'd get lost.

However, though Rhyme wouldn't admit it, it bugged her. Was she really…echoing Joshua?

~***~

Neku was resting, lying on the bed with his eyes closed and arms crossed behind his head. Not really asleep, but in a comfortable mental state between rest and awake.

The sound of a door opening made the boy open one eye lazily, studying the figure. "Hey, Josh." He greeted.

The Composer returned the gesture with a languid wave of his hand. "Hello, Neku. There's something we need to do."

Deigning not to reply, Neku simply waited for the rest.

"The Composers got a few separate rules explained to them," Joshua said. "This is one of them. Since you participated in your first Game, I now can teach you about the Music."

"Music." Neku said skeptically.

Joshua nodded. "You are officially recognized by all of the UG as my Proxy, therefore you, along with the other Composers' Proxies, are going to get some special abilities that the other Players do not have."

When Neku still didn't respond, Joshua huffed, crossing his arms. "Are you even listening?"

"I am. Go ahead, I'm just a little worn out."

After studying his face for any signs of deceit, the Composer got a thoughtful look on his features. "You're well aware of the thoughts around us, correct?"

"Yeah. And the Player Pin can read them."

"Yes, that is the truth of the matter. Dear, all of the energy, the thoughts, Souls, and Imaginations that collectively make up that person are given off as a sort of force. That force that cannot be shielded is called the Music, since everyone has a different Song. The difference may only be miniscule, but rest assured, it's there."

"Okay, what's so useful about that?"

"Later on I can show you something else," Joshua continued, ignoring him. "But right now, I'm going to let you in on the Music."

He reached out and put his hand, palm facing upward, toward Neku. "Take my hand."

Glaring at his hand, then at the Composer himself, Neku asked if it was really necessary.

"To be honest, possibly not. However, even though I think you're probably advanced enough to learn how to access the Music yourself, it'd be faster to just let me help you."

Neku made a face but complied, pressing his hand into Joshua's. The Composer tightened his grip, and then sent out a pulse of energy. For a moment Neku's whole world glowed white and he briefly saw Joshua in his true form, a shining white figure, before he switched back.

Then, he felt…cold.

The icy feeling crept around his entire body and jumped into his veins, where it sent out rounds after rounds of arctic frost across his skin. His heart beat sluggishly for a moment, laboring under the terrible coldness that was making Neku feel like he was going to die again.

The cold swept across his eyes, changing the world briefly into shades of white, light blue, gray, and delicate silver. Joshua still kept a tight grip on his hand.

"Josh," Neku gasped, lifting his free hand to clutch his head. "Stop." He thought he saw a flash of triumph in Joshua's purple gaze, but then it vanished.

After what seemed like an eternity in the freezing ice, where Neku felt like if he moved it would result in him shattering, the warmth crept back across his skin and finally his heartbeat sped back up. Joshua relinquished his grip, and sat back. "There we go," he said calmly.

Neku struggled to get a breath down, feeling the last of the frost pass through his body in a choking ripple before heat returned. "What the hell, Josh?" He was too winded to yell properly.

Joshua hummed for a moment. "Well, to be_ perfectly_ honest, that was _entirely _necessary."

"It better be, that was worse than dying!"

"Don't exaggerate dear, especially since I shot you at close range." Only Yoshiya Kiryu would feel comfortable talking about murder, no matter when or who it happened to. "Now, you know how you activate your Player Pin?"

"Yeah." Neku's gaze was distrustful, eyes narrowed into slits.

"That was a rhetorical question, dear. I want you to recall that sensation of the thoughts rushing in and opening to you." Joshua was studying him carefully.

Neku did so, closing his eyes and trying to remember the river of thoughts that flowed around him whenever he did that.

"Now," Joshua continued in a softer tone. "I want you to call up the sensation you just felt a moment ago. What _did_ it feel like, by the way?"

"Ice." Neku gritted his teeth, remembering how on every lethargic heartbeat the frozen icicles had jabbed into his blood.

"Really? Mine was fire. Go ahead, then."

Neku did as he was told, remembering the thoughts then the feeling, and-

So many different sounds played in his mind that it made Neku fall on his side in his bed, touching his headphones, which he had gotten back from his house before he left mostly as a comfort object.

Joshua touched him lightly on the shoulder. "Calm down, let the thoughts play but don't pay a lot of attention to it."

Neku did as he was told, and instantly the noise died down, but he could still hear the constant murmur of it. It…was like being in a crowded hallway at school. You can hear the noise but don't pay huge attention to it, and you only hear sounds. But if you try to listen, you can immediately pick out the separate voices.

But it wasn't voices, because everyone, including the Substitutes, had Player Pins now. It was music. Pure, unaltered music that all had a different beat, but flowed to a beautiful central tune that sounded as soft as it was harsh.

Neku relaxed his muscles, opening one eye while keeping a tight mental hold on the state he was in now. He could just feel the faintest of shivers preparing to happen, since he kind of felt cold at the moment. "What's the point of this?"

"Simple. You don't lose anyone. If you're separated from Shiki, for example, you can find her voice in the maelstrom of thoughts, despite her having a Player Pin. You can pick up on emotions but not what she's thinking. There are some other functions I'm sure you'll figure out later."

Neku blinked his eyes shut again. "Want me to try it, then?"

"Of course." Joshua said with a wave of his hand.

He thought of Shiki, it was that simple. He called up memories of her and the next thing he knew, his mind had just _jumped_ forward, searching through the Music automatically and…found her.

Suddenly, behind closed lids, the flowing colors took shape. The edges were black, with a sort of gold fog, but everything was reasonably clear. Sometimes when she moved, everything seemed slightly fuzzy, but mostly he could see her.

"She's dancing." Neku said without opening his eyes, his tone low.

"Pardon?" Joshua raised his eyebrows though Neku couldn't see.

"Shiki. She has her earphones in and she's dancing in her room."

It was true; Shiki's white earphones were in her ears, the long pale cord connected to the music player on her waist. She twirled and skipped like a ballerina, landing lightly and elegantly, and Neku sensed the peace inside of her, she must be listening to a slow song.

She danced for the entertainment of her one person audience, Mr. Mew, propped against a pillow on her bed, and she danced for herself. Trying to distract herself from something.

Neku didn't want to open his eyes, since it would break the image and the peace he was feeling, but when Joshua spoke again he did.

"Neku, you can _see_ her?" The Composer's eyes sparkled in interest. "That's very rare."

"Can you?" Neku questioned, releasing the energy and blocking the flow of Music.

"Hee hee…not telling." Joshua flicked his hair, standing up from the bed. "Go ahead and rest now, dear." Before Joshua could leave, Neku asked him a question.

"What do you mean; it felt like fire to you?"

"Don't worry about it, Neku." He murmured before closing the door.

Neku leaned back in bed, feeling exhausted due to the painful process of learning how to listen to the Music, but before he fell asleep he made sure he remembered Shiki's Song, her personal melody in the Music.

It sounded like a mixture between classical music, soft and slow, but had an undercurrent of…a sort of desperateness that gave it force and life. The beat played in his head now.

~***~

"The _hell_?" Beat exclaimed loudly, glaring over Rhyme's shoulder at the phone. "Does that say head back to Central Park?"

"It does," Rhyme confirmed with a sigh. To her and Beat's irritation, the missions didn't have a time limit but they sent them all over the whole entire city, to libraries and malls, stores and office buildings, all the while only one Noise attack per mission would occur. They had been treated to a "New York welcome" by a young woman named Alexis, whom had blonde hair, glasses, green eyes, and nasty smirk. After that she just…left.

"It does, and we're on the other side of the city! And we have a time limit this time." She looked at the ticking clock on her hand that read two hours, rubbing it to try and ease the burning.

"Yo, yo, yo! We gotta bounce then, c'mon!"

"Beat wAIT!" Rhyme yelped, the word turning into a shriek when her brother snatched her off the street and held her close, kicking his skateboard down the road.

The wind howled in Rhyme's ears, and when she looked around, struggling for a better grip. She saw thin flakes of snow were beginning to fall, and the siblings passed right through the icy tendrils as Beat took off in the direction of the park.

A startled Barrier Reaper leaped aside, unable to form a shield before Beat was already through the gap.

"Beat, careful!" Rhyme said as they continued their wild ride. She thought a Harrier was sending Noise symbols after them but it was hard to tell at the speed Beat was going.

Her brother jerked his head up and down in a nod, before finally stepping back hard on his skateboard, almost knocking Rhyme through the air.

"We made it, yo! TIGHT!" Beat exulted, punching a fist in the air with a joyful shout.

"So sorry, but it stops. Right here." Two voices said perfectly together not even a second after Beat's victorious yell.

Rhyme and Beat turned around. Standing on top of the thin ice that had formed over the lake in Central Park, two men stood. They were identical in every way, same baggy black clothes, same brown eyes, same untidy black hair drawn back in an untidy, messy knot. They smiled, leaning toward each other, skin as pale as the ice below them. They spoke by taking turns, not a pause in-between.

"Yes we-"

"Are perfectly-"

"Capable of"

"Dealing with"

"You, with"

"Our Noise"

"Of course." They chimed in unison.

"Bwaa! Stop that freaky talkin', yo!"

"Of course you don't understand." The twins said together.

Rhyme offered Beat an encouraging smile. "We can do this, right, Beat?" Her fingers found the Pins in her pocket.

Beat looked at her for a moment, and then he rolled his shoulders, kicking the board up. "Yeah! COME GET SOME! Time for a beat down, yo!"

The light whooshed her brother away and Rhyme skipped back from an unexpected shot from a gun from one of the twins, but suddenly they vanished too, looking aggravated she had dodged the blast.

_"Beat, be careful!"_

Rhyme unleashed a torrent of fire from her hand; it engulfed the surrounding Noise, holding them briefly at bay.

…Until a Noise symbol reared up under her.

Fear froze Rhyme in place, like a deer in the headlight. It was the urging of her brother, sensing her dread that finally caused her to move just in time as a gold Noise shark reared up from the ground.

She ran a little ways from it, and then fired a round of silver bullets that penetrated the side of the beast. The two twins were nowhere in sight, at the moment.

Noise cats, frogs, and the shark stalked Rhyme across the field as she danced out of the way, kicking and slashing with a sort of furious anger, anger at herself for almost allowing the shark to get her again.

The cat tore into her legs, and she went down briefly on one knee before activating her shield. The Noise bounced off of it as she let it heal her, standing still and watching the soulless eyes of the creatures as they stared at her, the pinpricks of light in their eyes glowing with a single minded ambition.

Leaping out of the way, Rhyme quickly clicked her healing Pin after feeling an extreme jab of agony from Beat's end, the last ripples of pain fading after a few heartbeats.

_"Damn Noise shark! I'mma smash it!"_

Rhyme didn't reply, just kicked aside a frog and aimed more rounds of silver shots at the shark. She couldn't stop a small sigh of relief as it exploded in gray static, but her reprieve was short lived as the last remaining Noise, the cat, leaped straight at her and pinned her to the earth.

It slashed at her clothes, and Rhyme twisted, unable to stop the scream that had built up inside of her. She kicked the cat off, feeling blood running down her shirt, and dealt the last hit to the Noise cat.

Once Beat had returned to her side, she straightened up, surprised that her shirt appeared to be mostly intact except for around the very edges, despite the blood that was trickling across her skin.

"Sorry Rhyme that damn shark messed up my Fusion." Beat lowered his head and Rhyme gave him an affectionate hug.

"How sweet," chimed the twins. "We would battle you ourselves, but unfortunately G-Money wants a shot at you now."

Beat broke into wild laughter, a hand covering his face. "'G-Money?' You gotta be kiddin' me!"

A shadow fell across Rhyme, and she tugged on her brother's shirt as the twins left. "Beat?"

"Bwa hahahaha! G-money! That's so-"

"So what, punk?" A voice like thunder rumbled.

Beat turned around with Rhyme and they saw the figure of a large, muscular man looking down on them. His skin was dark, the eyes too, with heavy eyebrows and baggy, white clothes. Tennis shoes dug into the grass like hooves and pale light reflected off of his bald head as he growled, "You punks got a problem wit' ma name?"

"No, we don't." Rhyme said calmly at the same time Beat yelled _hell yeah, he did._

"I see. Sorry I've gotta pound ya now little missy, but ya partner is really tickin' me off. Ya gonna get owned now, by _Cantus Ursus._"

Brown and white tattoo lines encircled his body, and Rhyme felt herself leave Beat's side again as they watched the massive man become an even more enormous grizzly bear.

The bear lifted his head, the red eyes burning into Rhyme's. She looked back at the brown, white, and gold bear and wondered if this was a special, double sided Cantus form like Uzuki's, or if above her Beat faced its shadow counterpart.

G-Money roared, charging across the field like a bulldozer. Rhyme snuck a glance at her hand, saw that they had only one hour, and gulped.

She barely dodged the attack, and the bear whirled around, flashing tattoo claws at her, as fast as lightning. Rhyme released a stream of bullets into the bear's face, earning an irritated growl.

She suddenly felt the energy inside of her, and once again the tidal wave was unleashed onto their foe.

The bear charged right through it, catching Rhyme as she dismounted, and she squeaked in fear, falling on her side. G-Money lashed out at her, but she noticed…the touch wasn't as strong as it could have been. When she scrambled to her feet, feeling the pounding pain in her back and shoulders from the cuts, she saw just a faintest hint of regret in the bear's eyes. Rearing upward on his hind legs, G-Money brought his paws together and slammed them down on the ground.

Erupting around her, the earth lifted upward and almost made Rhyme fall again. She erected her shield then sent out more fire and bullets at the bear. Dodging the bullets but bulling through the fire, the Noise gave a wild growl before-

More pain. It appeared G-Money was more intent on harming Beat than her. Judging the pain, Rhyme decided she didn't have to use the healing Pin just yet. She sidestepped the bear before turning to face him.

She bended fire into a sort of semi-circle, so when the bear came at her, she moved it into his path. His fur ignited due to the higher concentration of it but that didn't stop him, and Rhyme was forced to scamper like a squirrel to escape her hunter.

_Squirrel…_

Rhyme blinked, her pupils dilating and she felt that same electric shock that had made her say those odd words before. She turned her head, and to her surprise the bear had pulled back, his eyes reflecting briefly white wings. His entire eyes turned pallid and he stumbled.

When Rhyme looked behind her and all around, she saw nothing unusual.

Beat gave a feral shout in her head, and the next thing she knew she was also attacking, bullets firing from her palm.

G-Money still looked dazed by the wings, and he fell onto his haunches before lashing out one more time. Rhyme dropped onto her knees as one of her legs gave out; the bear had ripped into her flesh.

Then the world froze, and the prone form of the grizzly Noise suddenly turned into static before vanishing.

"We did it!" Rhyme cheered, struggling to her feet and clicking the healing Pin once more.

~***~

Uzuki hissed, watching Amy and Aaron, the two kids that looked the opposite of each other, one bright and happy the other some kind of Emo freak, as they continued basically running circles around her.

_I'm going to get them,_ thought the weasel sourly, lashing out with her claws and just barely missing the boy that was charging with Velocity Tackle. Feeling the blow burn into her side, Uzuki thrashed wildly, succeeding in trapping Aaron, the Gothic one, as he tried to loop around to continue his onslaught. Uzuki lifted the boy into the air and bashed him on the concrete, grinning in satisfaction as the boy was severely dazed.

She had to switch her direct attention to Sarah now; the girl was releasing a flurry of what looked like music notes at her. Shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear the din from her head, Uzuki simply went into one of her rages, ignoring everything and plunging head first into the problem. She pinned the girl against the wall, baring her teeth and raking her claws against the girl's side. Only distantly aware of the pain slamming into her, Uzuki threw the girl aside and refocused on Aaron.

Aaron was limping to his feet, using a Pin quickly. As the energy surged through him, he released a Fusion with his friend that sent down a shower of music notes and black stars that burned and slashed the Game Master severely.

Stumbling now, her rage mostly subsided; Uzuki struggled to stay on her paws.

_"Hey, you aren't giving up already are you? If you do, you owe me ramen for life." _Kariya's voice said in her head.

Twitching her whiskers in irritation, that quickly became annoyance; that even faster became aggravation; that suddenly exploded into a blood rage, the nearly defeated Game Master surprised her foes by lunging to her feet, (she had fallen on her side), and shooting out a shower of blazing bullets. Even she was shocked, but not as bad as her foes, as the bullets that greatly resembled the ones usually in her gun, except covered in white mist, exploded on the ground around them.

They both were caught hopelessly in the unexpected attack, and though they scrambled to use Pins and to get out of it, it was to no avail.

Uzuki grinned tiredly, watching the New York kids' Producer, a young man with braids named Michael, quickly intervene.

Kariya appeared beside her, watching the kids being taken away. "You did it, girl."

She huffed in response. "You had…any…doubt?" She suddenly collapsed, her head on her paws, and closed her eyes.

~***~

They were back at the Angel Palace, and Rhyme looked at the Pin in her hand depicting the Empire State Building in a gray background. The pinched face, irritated woman named Shannon, the Composer, had handed her the Pin, with her Conductor Jacob giving her a huge smile and congratulating the both of them, always smoothing back a strand of dyed green hair, so conspicuous Rhyme had almost laughed.

Beat thumped his fist into his other hand. "Yeah! We handled that chump, didn't we, Rhyme?"

"We sure did," Rhyme agreed. She was still wondering about the strange event with her wings that had completely frozen G-Money during the fight. Was it really wings? What was so special about it?

_Should I ask?_ She wondered.

Joshua gave her a grin when he approached. "Excellent work, Rhyme, you too, Beat. Get some rest now."

"What about Uzuki? Did she win?" Rhyme questioned.

"Yes, but just barely. Like I said, I don't expect her to win every little Game." Joshua looked at something on his phone, and Rhyme laughed a bit, lowering her voice so Beat wouldn't hear, though he was talking to Eri at the moment.

"Beat told me today I was copying you."

Joshua giggled. "You were dear, I saw it."

Rhyme blushed. "Wonder how that happened."

Her friend just giggled again, flicking a strand of hair from his face.

Rhyme decided to address another issue. "Did you notice anything…odd, during our fight with the New York Game Master?"

"I did. Everyone could see it. He just pulled back and stared."

"What do you think it means?"

"I'll look into it." He said distractedly.

Wandering away, Rhyme looked around and sighed.

They still had five Games to go, not counting the final challenge…

~***~

**_Woo, sorry it took so long. High school is frantic._**

**_All right, once more thanks to James Firebrand for Beta-ing. I don't really have anything to say this time._**

**_Next: Shibuya VS Cairo_**

**_Mind dropping a review?_**


	5. Day Three: Illusions

**Chapter Four: Cairo VS Shibuya**

_Day Three: Illusions_

Rhyme snapped her eyes open, the sky blue orbs flicking around her room. She had had another dream with Joshua and her Noise form, the scene had almost repeated exactly the way it had the first time. The same question, the same strange forest, the same irritated Noise, and the same Joshua.

"What's going on here?" She murmured to herself before getting dressed and leaving the room. Outside, she found Eri slumped against the wall, looking tired and defeated.

"What's the matter?" She asked the girl sympathetically though she already had a guess. Pushing back her dyed pink hair, Eri lifted and dropped her shoulders.

"I can't find my psyche, I'm trying everything I can, it's just-"

"Don't worry about it; it'll come when you're not looking for it." Rhyme interrupted with a smile, patting her shoulder. After an uneasy pause, Eri smiled in response.

"Yeah. Okay. Are you guys takin' turns or just going whenever you want?" She said, obviously trying to switch topics.

Rhyme shrugged. "Depends on what Joshua decides." She headed down the stairs, something inwardly bugging her that wasn't about her odd dreams. As she rounded the corner she bumped straight into someone.

"Oh, sorry-"She began, picking up the person's scattered Pins and was about to hand them back when she dropped them again with a clatter. The girl looking back at her had black hair and orange eyes that had briefly startled her.

As Rhyme apologized again and bent to collect them once more, the girl spoke in a somewhat shrill voice.

"So," she said in her tones of breaking ice. "You're Rhyme."

"How did you know?" Rhyme answered guardedly, handing the Pins back to the girl. The designs were all unfamiliar.

"Nothing too serious, rest assured. I heard of you from the New York Composer, your little trick with your wings stunned poor 'G-Money' pretty badly."

"Trick? I didn't even know I _had_ wings." She crossed her arms. "Do you know something?"

"Perhaps…" When the girl trailed off, not saying anything more, Rhyme flicked a strand of her blonde hair from her eyes, smiling and turning her head slightly as she surveyed the girl from the corner of her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to get something to eat then."

Rhyme walked down the curling stairs but stopped again as the girl spoke up. "You're close to Joshua."

She turned around, still stunned. "How-"

But the girl was gone. Setting off down the faintly glowing white stairway, the almost stifling scent of the Palace's natural perfume making her head spin, Rhyme looked uneasily over her shoulder.

_What was that about?_

~***~

To Beat, there was little more than a straight forward solution to things. If action could be taken, by all means, take it! If not, then one must simply admit there was nothing to be done.

Admit defeat only if all actions were impossible.

However, this sort of thinking wasn't necessary for him right now as he got a message from Rhyme saying she was eating breakfast. Tugging on some clothes, (the too-nice-for-their-own-good Angels kept washing his outfit every night with that girly fragrance), he rushed down the steps with his board tucked securely under one arm.

The babble of the dining hall engulfed him immediately, and his eyes quickly picked out Rhyme's usual spot at the end of the table. Neku was up, along with Eri, though Shiki and Joshua had yet to appear. Beat thought Phones looked distracted, but it was hard to tell with that guy. Eri was looking like a fashion model amidst commoners, only rivaled by some French girl sitting near the opposite end.

Making a point to grab a chair and turn it around backwards as he sat near Rhyme, Beat asked casually, "Who's goin' today?"

"Don't know, we're waiting on Josh." Eri responded, looking at the food as if mentally calculating the calories.

Beat gritted his teeth at the sound of laughter.

"You're waiting for me? How charming."

Joshua walked toward them, his eyes gleaming, with Shiki behind him. Beat thought Shiki looked irritated, but she usually did around Joshua.

Greetings went out all around, and then Shiki crossed her arms and looked at Eri. "I wonder where we're going next."

"I always wanted to travel," Rhyme joked, her usual bright smile in place. Beat was relieved, nothing was wrong. His sister was exactly the same as she had always been, slight mockery of Joshua or not, she was the same inside.

"I hope _Spain._" Eri said, and then she made a face. "But I'm not really going anywhere, I guess."

"I sure hope not. You don't have your psyche, dear."

Glaring at Joshua, Eri then directed her soft gaze onto Beat. The skater averted his eyes but answered her question on where he would like to go.

"Hey, man, I don't care, yo." He mumbled.

"What about you, Neku?" Eri asked him.

Neku shrugged but besides that he didn't say anything at all. In a flash of light the usual Angel appeared, and declared that they had a minute before the next Game began, hanging like a limp puppet on invisible strings.

The idea of sitting in the stuffy Palace with the Angels, muttering Players, and scheming Composers made Beat grimace visibly.

"Yo," he said unexpectedly. "Put me 'n' Rhyme in again, I ain't gonna sit here and do nothin' all day!"

Joshua looked surprised. "You want to play twice in a row?"

"Hell yeah! This place is so-"he struggled to find a word. "Mind-numbing. It's like someone switched off the switches on your brain! The freakin' flowery scent ain't helpin' much either! I'll go again, that is, if Rhyme wants to." He added quickly.

Rhyme looked uneasy, and then she shrugged, flicking her hair from her eyes. "Sure, I'll go again."

"Neku? Shiki?" Joshua questioned.

"Let them go, saves me some trouble." Neku grumbled with Shiki agreeing.

"How do you two feel?" Joshua asked the Bito siblings.

"I feel GREAT! What about you, Rhyme?"

"I feel fine enough." Her bright, blue eyes gazed up at him.

Neku and Shiki put away their Player Pins, with the Bito siblings drawing theirs again. The perfume really was irritating Beat beyond all measure. It seemed to make some of the others lethargic, but it riled him up. It also gave Beat an almost twenty four hour headache and he'd be grateful to get away from it all, get some adrenaline pumping, and defeat some Noise to chase away the boredom.

The light blaze happened, and immediately hot, scratchy air invaded Beat's throat. On one side of them a light, slightly green river flowed. The buildings towered in shades of yellow, orange, white, gray, and black. Crowds were all around them, stretching far into the distance. There were two islands in the river, and Beat noticed boats going back and forth. Some of the streets were so narrow Beat thought it was a wonder anyone could _possibly_ walk through them, some others were so wide that several buses could have traversed it easily, side by side.

Rhyme suddenly looked to the left of her, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Huh? What's th' matter?" He asked her, concern clear in his voice.

She looked back at him, blinking in amazement, too stunned to do much else. She cleared her throat, and then said, "I think we're in Egypt."

"Only cuz it's hot?"

"No, but I recognize the structure of the buildings here. We did a report on it in World Geography at school." She explained. Her eyes shone brilliantly with interest. "I think…this city is…"

Beat read a sign. "Cairo? What the-"

"Isn't that the Egyptian capital? I wonder-"

Rhyme and Beat both unexpectedly froze, hearing the excited ring of their phones. Grabbing them, Rhyme was the first to read the message.

"'_Let us first say welcome to Cairo. May you enjoy your visit here, we hope. Otherwise, defeat all the Noise around you currently. You have one hour. Fail, and be eliminated. The Reapers.'_"

Beat grimaced at the pain in his hand but otherwise ignored it. He flipped his Player Pin, scanning the crowds around them.

"There's like nine or ten symbols here, yo! How the hell are we supposed to get this done in an hour?!"

Rhyme looked thoughtful, and then shook her head. "We don't really have a choice, do we? Each battle takes roughly…ten minutes…Oh I don't know, the Noise here may be different. We don't have an alternative. Let's go!"

Beat chained the Noise together; their strange symbols in the shapes of desert eagles and other things soon started migrating toward them.

His sister left his side, (or did he leave hers?), and he faced the swooping, brown tattoo birds flanked by their black dog guardians.

He swung his board and it connected with enough force to knock the thing clean through the air. Jumping to avoid the searching claws of a dog, he landed on top of it; board first, before quickly turning around and slamming it in the face, brief shockwave ripples emanating from his weapon.

The dog flew back and exploded in midair into a flower of static, and Beat turned around in time to block a blow from the bird before catching two of them in a long sweep and knocking the birds away. Riding his skateboard, he twisted and let another flare of the energy from his psyche tear apart the attacking creatures, their hisses becoming drowned out by the frantic pumping of his heartbeat in his ears.

The battle raged on, with Beat expertly taking on swarms of the Noise and knocking them clean away. Their battered bodies landed heavily on the ground, almost instantly erupting into gray and white flecks.

The Timer was getting uncomfortably close to the ending mark, and even with the almost constant Fusions of various levels, Beat found it difficult to handle so many of them at once.

He fell flat on his back as a prancing horse Noise kicked him over, but he lifted his board to block the hooves of the beast. Beat leaped back to his feet, swinging his board with all of his strength.

The board connected squarely with the horse's face, and it reared up, whinnying in fury, before attempting to back kick him again.

Beat blocked it, though the force pushed him back, and then kicked out at the horse's chest.

Back it fell, vanishing before it touched the floor fully, and he turned to take on the last viper Noise, only to have it disappear.

The timer read one minute.

Then the siblings found themselves outside of the Noise dimensions and once again in the crowded streets. The crowds passed through them indifferently on the cobblestone pavement.

A raw cry of fury went up.

"AHHH! What the hell?! How the--you--I was sitting here unleashing Noise on you even as you fought those that were already here, but you _won_? What the-ARGH!"

Beat and Rhyme exchanged surprised glances before looking up at the Harrier above them.

The Harrier wore loose brown pants and a thin white shirt, black hair cut to hang limply around his ears. His skin was tan, his eyes dark, and he had a look of anger on his face that rivaled Uzuki's.

"I mean, _what_?! Come ON. The kid with the board, you just kept…" He let out another howl of rage stamping his foot like a little kid. "That's just _crazy._"

"Who're you?" Rhyme asked, looking stunned.

"I'm Ahnect. I thought for _sure_ I had you kids! GAH! Fine…" He slumped his head dejectedly, suddenly switching to depressed mode.

"Yo! You pi dolar or somethin'?" Beat demanded, stamping his foot.

"Do you mean bi polar?" Rhyme corrected.

Ahnect didn't reply, he just lowered his heavy looking pale silver wings, pouting. After a moment he perked up, glaring with a new interest at them. "I'm sure Spira will get you good, though!"

"Who?" Beat growled. "That's it, I'mma done mincin' words with this chump! It's time for a beat down, yo!"

Beat took off after the Harrier whom started racing away over the roofs. He skated along quickly, with Rhyme racing after him, shouting, and the Reaper kept jumping from roof top to roof top as fled.

Beat didn't know it, but even Rhyme was rapidly losing track of where they were going. She kept trying to remember every twist and turn, but to no avail.

Soon the Reaper came to a halt after he jumped down into an alley, and he looked back at them with piercingly amused green eyes.

Suddenly shedding all anger and despair, Ahnect threw his head back and laughed.

"Mission mail," smirked the Egyptian Reaper.

Their phones had just ringed, and after their high speed chase halfway across the city, they now had to go back. And defeat the Noise there.

"Normally," Ahnect teased. "You'd have enough time to defeat the Noise, but you wasted a good thirty minutes chasing me. Now you'll fail the mission as you try to head back."

Not even bothering to listen anymore, Beat felt his face heat up in anger and God; he wanted to strangle that Reaper!

But that didn't matter, no; he just had to get back now. Hopping onto his skateboard, the teen took off with his sister in tow, tightly holding one of her hands.

"We don't even know where we are!" Rhyme exclaimed beside him, her voice almost being carried away by the wind.

"Yo, I get that, sis! But we gotta get back to that street corner, do ya know th' general direction?"

Rhyme shook her head, blonde locks tossed by the wind. "I can't make it out, maybe that way." She pointed to their right. "It's hard to tell, he led us in a zigzagging pattern!"

Beat swore, kicking off again, when Rhyme's phone rang.

Still struggling to run beside her brother as he zoomed along on his board, Rhyme tugged her phone out. Beat slung her into his arms, and she hung on tight as she read the text message.

"'_You need to head northwest, as far northwest as you can. Eri.'_"

"Eri? What th' he-"

"That's right, she can help us, remember?" Rhyme said excitedly, raising her voice over the currents of air.

"Where's northwest then?"

Rhyme looked at the sun in the sky, and from there judged the direction they had to go. She pointed to a narrow alley by a fruit vendor. "That way!"

The timer still ticked down dangerously, and every digit sent a brief flare of heat across the boy's palms. Beat felt his face burn with embarrassment that turned to anger.

Dang, they had messed up a mission only because he let himself be baited by that stupid Reaper.

They entered the square they had first appeared in, but with so many Noise symbols that seemed to have regenerated it was clear they couldn't defeat them all, not with the time it took getting there subtracted from their total.

Beat wanted to try anyway, still feeling secretly like the idiot he knew he was, and Rhyme humored him. The two began decimating Noise left and right, basically leaving behind a trail of static wherever they went.

But when the timer clicked to zero, the whole world froze and suddenly they were expelled from the Noise realms and onto their rears.

"Ow," Rhyme complained. She abruptly felt her heart beat faster. "D-didn't they say fail and be eliminated?"

Before Beat could reply, another voice, quiet and calm, spoke first.

"No, little ones. That's just your generic text message, Spira likes familiarity. You'll just lose points. Up you get, and perhaps you can still get a decent score."

Beat and Rhyme looked around and saw, standing on the very waters of the green Nile River, a dark skinned young woman with long black hair. She smiled serenely at them, golden brown eyes glowing, white wings folded neatly across her back.

"We're okay then." Rhyme sighed in relief, even though she knew Mr. H had said they wouldn't get Erased this way, it had still bothered her.

"You're okay," agreed the woman. "My name is Cleo by the way, I'm the Producer here."

Their phones rang.

"Up you get, try again." She urged them before vanishing in a flash of white light and swirling feathers.

Beat yanked his phone out, flipping it open and feeling the searing pain before he even read the message. "_'Sal-salu…'_" He paused, trying to sound it out, and Rhyme sighed, reading the message herself.

"'_Salutations, welcome to the second mission.'_" She frowned, looking at the bulky text message. Her vivid eyes suddenly gleamed with understanding. "That's it! Beat, these guys are time wasters! They're giving us distractions on purpose. Let's see…We just need to get to Cairo Tower, the rest is just full of helloes and lots of 'what ifs'."

Beat looked in the distance. "Think that long; sorta thin white building is it?"

"I'm sure it is. I think I remember the Tower from class. Let's go!"

Beat snatched Rhyme's hand again and he set off, weaving through the streets, ignoring some of the chasing Noise symbols.

_Chasing…Noise symbols?_

He looked over his shoulder, but those things he saw didn't _look_ like Taboo Noise marks.

They were just…red. Red bands of tattoos. Which meant a Harrier was nearby, he thought.

Zooming around more streets and corners, Beat then promptly placed down his sister and stamped his foot on his board, bringing it up.

"We made it!" He declared, pumping his fist in the air.

"We're not out of this yet," Rhyme told him carefully, but she was smiling in pleasure. She peered up at the Tower, and Beat did the same. It was like a huge wicker building with a thin spire on top, the diamond shaped gaps in the pale structure were certainly unusual to the Japanese kids.

"More missions to go," Beat said, trying to sound utterly unbothered by the prospect.

~***~

Eri watched Beat and Rhyme run around Cairo, fighting Noise and reaching each location with time to spare.

She held her phone in her hand, sighing, once again wondering if something was wrong with her and she didn't have a psyche after all. There was only so much she could do, only a certain way she was allowed to offer them some help.

"Well done, giving them directions. How did you know?" Joshua asked her, moving his eyes from his own phone. "I was about to but you beat me to the punch."

"Just have a good memory, that's all." Eri frowned, feeling something stir inside of her. It made her uneasy.

"Something the matter?"

"I just have a bad feeling," she informed him.

Joshua waited for a pair of chattering Players, not chosen for this round, to wander by. The air they stirred up wafted that cloying, sweet scent over the pair, and Eri whom at first had loved the smell, now felt repulsed by it.

Somehow, the white palace felt more and more like a prison and less like a fairy tale castle.

"Hmm. To be honest, so have I. Shame I can't use my clairvoyant powers."

Eri still didn't really like the violet eyed teen, so she scooted a little away from him and decided to go find Shiki.

She snapped her phone shut, certain Joshua could watch her friends, and went off to find her.

~***~

"'_Did you know…'_" Rhyme rolled her eyes, trying to pick the mission out from amongst the various cluttering text on her phone. She finally rooted it out. "_'Challenge and defeat the Game Master near St. Mercurius. You have two hours. Failing is encouraged. The Reapers.'_"

Beat snickered at the message, but after realizing neither Rhyme nor he knew exactly where the church was, they had to briefly stop at a shop to ask directions.

After quickly explaining to the turban wearing man they had no time to buy anything, they ran off in the direction of the church.

"What…better place…to fight a Reaper?" Rhyme said between pants.

The street peeled away into a fork in the road, and Beat followed the man's directions and entered a narrow alley before bursting out into the main street.

There, looming in front of them, made from pale white stone and thin spires, was the church. The stained glass windows were grand and impressive, and there was that powerful feeling of sanctity that made one feel awkward and weak in comparison.

Some people were meandering outside of the cathedral, and the area around it was full of determined tourists flashing pictures at the great monument.

A voice welcomed them.

"Well, you found St. Mercurius. I'm impressed. I thought Anubis could do better at holding you back, him and Ahnect."

Beat remembered the extremely bored looking Harrier with the flaming red hair that had sent Noise after them a mission or so back.

Now they looked up to see a figure balancing on one of the spires. She had a strangely angled face with dark marks around her eyes, shady tan skin, and black eyes. She wore a simple yet elegant white dress with frills of blue lace, and her nails clicked together. She beat her wings and leaped off to land in front of them. She then rapidly stepped back, as if suddenly valuing personal space, and smiled again with unnatural bright teeth that flashed as brilliant as her black and gold wings.

"My name is Spira," she gave a cheerful laugh. "I'm afraid-"

"Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo! No time wastin'!" Beat snarled, impatient to get on with the battle.

"If you so wish," came the instant reply. Spira flexed her wings wide, leaning over until her hands were flat on the earth.

Golden tattoos, along with strands of darker brown, elegantly wove their way around her body. She began to change in front of their very eyes, and Beat readied his board, watching as it emerged in front of them.

It was a sphinx. The sphinx had tattoo legs and a tail, but her body and head was solid. She waved her head from side to side, and a brilliant burst of energy emerged from her body.

Beat watched Rhyme vanish in the usual flash of light, and Noise appeared around him. He ignored the smaller chumps, chasing after the sphinx instead.

Skipping backwards, baring her fangs, Spira bounded away from him like a great lion. Beat had to keep scrambling after her to keep up.

"Yo! Are you Egyptians all cowards or sumthin'? All you do is run!"

That got to her. Spira whirled around and bunched her muscles before leaping. Beat blocked her claws and lashed out, twisting in midair and slamming her in the face.

Stumbling backwards, the sphinx let out another brilliant flash of light that blinded him. Beat felt the claws tear into his side, and the blood that soon followed just made him even angrier.

Blocking two more hits, he slammed the sphinx hard in the side then retreated to deal with the growing Noise horde.

"_Dang Rhyme, we gotta do a Fusion quick."_

She agreed, and they flashed around rapidly, slicing through the Noise dimensions and clearing away some of the minion Noise.

The sphinx prowled toward him again, but before Beat could react pain radiated strongly from Rhyme's side. She quickly used a Pin and assured him it was nothing, but it was enough to infuriate Beat to the point he actually broke several tattoo bands on Spira as she raised her claws to block his attack.

Screeching in pain, the sphinx retreated and from the strange…helmet…mask…thing she wore came another flash of light.

Beat covered his eyes, but when it cleared he was in-

"Shibuya?" He said in surprise.

The sights, the sounds, everything was the same he thought. In fact, he was having a powerful feeling of déjà vu.

"Rhyme?" He searched for his sister. "Rhyme!"

Nothing. Just the walking people, indifferent, as always.

Deciding it was a _trick_, a _trick God dang it_ from that wretched sphinx, Beat tried to figure out what to do now.

~***~

Rhyme was having the same problem, meanwhile.

She kept running around calling for Beat, for Neku, for _anyone_, but the strangely silent crowds of people still didn't react, nor did they give off any thoughts.

_This is Spira's work,_ she thought bleakly. But now what?

The timer was ticking; she had only one hour left. Whirling around, she jumped to dodge the unexpected attack of a Noise wolf.

The wolf snarled, frothing at the mouth, and prowled along on forked claws to reach for her again. Rhyme knocked it away with a blast of fire, and then decided she must be in the Noise dimension still, that's why Beat wasn't here.

But that didn't explain why she couldn't talk to him.

She fought the Noise, and Beat, wherever he was, must have been doing the same. The vanished in plumes of static, but with only thirty minutes left her heart began to thud painfully, nervously.

Wait.

She felt a wind at her side, it tugged, invisible but very real, and she look instinctively to where it seemed to be leading.

There, crouching on top of the building above her and keeping very still in the shadow of the bulbous water tower on the roof, was Spira. The glinting eyes of the sphinx quickly closed, hiding the luminescent orbs from view, but Rhyme still saw it.

She jumped up, grabbing the rungs of a fire escape and started climbing up toward the sphinx.

Spira reared up, knowing she had been seen, and hissed in fury.

Rhyme repeatedly chanted in her mind, praying her brother could hear her.

"_Beat, she's on the roof!"_

~***~

Beat was confused, where had all the Noise gone? He lowered his board, every heartbeat echoing in his ears, and looked around.

"What? What's this about…?"

Mystified and tired, the older Bito sibling looked left, then right.

Down, and then on a sudden instinct, up.

And he saw a pair of yellow eyes on the roof.

"Yo!" He hollered, clambering loudly up the fire escape and toward the sphinx. The false scenery melted away, and as Beat looked down he almost lost his grip.

They were climbing the actual church, and he was hanging onto some stones that were spaced far enough to serve as hand holds.

Albeit, very dangerous hand holds. Spira had backed onto a ridge beside a sort of dome that served as the center of the building.

Beat leaped onto the ridge with her and swung his board in time to block her claws. He swung again, and again, snapping off more strips that rapidly slid or snapped away, like broken rubber bands. He hit her face and broke into laughter as her nose suddenly caved in, giving Spira an odd appearance.

Cries of agony filled the air, and then Spira butted her head. Beat dug his heels in and withstood the blow, preparing to swing once more when-

A flash of light.

Spira vanished in a swirl of static, and Rhyme suddenly appeared beside him.

She offered him a smile. "Wow, you did it, Beat!"

Beat grinned in response, baffled, and that's when among the red sunset of Egypt that he noticed something.

His eyes flicked down to the timer still on his hands, and then to the shadow below him.

His shadow was normal.

"Rhyme's" was catlike.

Rhyme suddenly smirked, transforming abruptly into Cantus Sphinx just as Beat raised his board. Spira swiped at his legs, and unbalanced, Beat fell clean off of the church.

~***~

Rhyme raised her shield, blocking the attack from Spira before lashing out with strings of silver light. Spira recoiled, and then suddenly her eyes glinted with triumph.

Before Rhyme could do anything, she felt a searing pain across her back and shoulders. She fell backwards off the building too, and she lost her grip on reality. She felt it starting to fray as darkness rushed to engulf her senses.

But before she blacked out entirely, she suddenly felt someone catch her in their arms.

~***~

Uzuki was eating ramen, simple as that.

She chewed slowly from her position in front of 104, lounging beside the building with a somewhat amused expression on her face as the Egyptian Players rounded the corner to meet her.

"There she is!" cried Zalika, dark eyes glinting in the rays of the fading sun. She pranced forward, skipping through the crowds followed by her equally cheerful partner, Nuru.

"You're the Game Master!" Nuru said happily, tugging on a strand of her dark brown hair.

"Nope."

Nuru blinked comically. "But the mission said get to 104, didn't it, sis?"

"That's the Game Master, she's just tricking us." Zalika said with a roll of her eyes. "She can see us, first off." She pulled out a pencil from somewhere within her pants pocket.

Nuru nodded. "Oh."

With a shrug, Uzuki tossed her food aside and transformed quickly into her Noise form. She felt the shift in dimensions as she drew them into battle, and with a wild growl she pounced.

The girl with the pencil created gray circles that attached themselves to the mink. She thrashed wildly as they scorched and burned her fur, flashing her claws out and tripping the girl.

Zalika got to her feet quickly, creating more strange symbols that did more bizarre things. Uzuki fired a round of bullets from her mouth, destroying some of the marks and simply bulled through the remaining ones. She toyed with the girl, acting on Noise instinct, cornering her in between two buildings.

She turned around and slammed the girl into the wall with her tail, and then directed her main attention to Nuru.

Nuru lifted cars from the road, though Uzuki saw no Pins, and fired them one after another at the Game Master.

She twisted, moving snakelike to dodge each one, and then sprang forward, knocking Nuru off her feet. She lost her concentration and ended up dropping the cars. Uzuki bit down hard before bounding away.

Uzuki turned to face Nuru now, shaking her head from side to side and snorting. She fired a round of bullets from her jaws, decimating the cars midflight before they caught her.

Sometimes she wondered what happened to the cars' RG counterparts.

Meanwhile, Zalika was still dancing around, rays of dull gray emitting from her pencil as she pierced Uzuki's hide again and again.

Once more she felt the anger swell up within her, and she bowled the girl clean over. Zalika shrieked as Uzuki pinned her to the earth, the force of her charge had actually shook the ground and several objects clattered back to the ground. Trapping the girl's arms, Uzuki lifted her tail and wrapped it around Zalika's pencil.

And broke it.

There was a flash of rainbow light that turned black, and then fell to the earth in glittering shards. Zalika, for reasons Uzuki couldn't fathom, screamed in agony though she herself hadn't been touched.

The scream was so painful even Uzuki, now used to such sounds as a former Harrier, frowned and lifted her paws from the girl's chest.

_Oh crap, didn't mean to hurt her that bad._

Switching her immediate attention away from Zalika, Uzuki dodged more and more cars, though one clipped her shoulder and matted her fur with blood. She rose up, caught the last one, and using its own momentum, flung it back.

It caught Nuru in the chest, and she fell flat on her back right as she prepared for a Fusion, the energy dying now.

Sensing victory, Uzuki ran toward the girl and caught her in her side, flinging her over her shoulder. Before Nuru hit the ground, Uzuki felt a force suddenly _pull_ her out of the Noise realms she had created.

Nuru's fall was slowed down to a gentle drop, and the Game Master turned her bloody muzzle as Kariya walked toward her.

"Girl, girl, _girl_." He chided mildly. "You've gotta stop being so vicious."

"Stop being vicious? What, I'm not doing a good job?" She sat down, her long tail coiling around her slender, tattoo legs.

"You're doing great so far, especially since Skulls and his sister actually _lost_ their challenge, but breaking a girl's psyche? Harsh." His eyes glinted behind their orange tinted shades. "Meh, you did win though. I don't know if breaking psyches is against the rules or not."

Uzuki stood up, shaking her elongated body and shedding some droplets of blood. She then transformed back into her regular appearance, crossing her arms.

"Heck, if it's not, I'm aiming for psyches all the time." Suddenly it dawned on her what Kariya had just said. "Wait, Skulls Jr. and the former fresh meat, they lost against _them_?" She jerked her thumb toward the Egyptian kids whom were being collected up by Mr. Hanekoma.

"Yeah, that sphinx was playing some mean tricks on them."

"Three winning streaks in a row!" Uzuki said unexpectedly, looking delighted. She intended to win at least four of these dang Games, and then maybe get to keep her job as Game Master. "My job's never felt more rewarding."

"Uh huh. C'mon, let's go talk to H. He's probably got something to say about psyche breaking." Kariya placed his lollipop back in his mouth and beckoned for her to follow.

~***~

Eri and Shiki shrieked in fear. "Oh no, Beat, Rhyme!"

Neku raised his eyebrows. "That's a nasty trick they're playing. We can't text message during Game Master battles?"

Eri shook her head bitterly. "This is our first lost Game, but hey, we're not out yet right? Especially since Uzuki won."

"We can't lose much more," Neku replied doubtfully.

Eri closed her phone, sighing. "I've seen other Players who've lost, they'll be here in a-"

An explosion of static, and suddenly Beat and Rhyme dropped beside the friends in the large, circular meeting room of the Angels.

Rhyme rolled over, moaning. She opened her eyes, looking around weakly. "Wh-what? We're back in the Palace. Beat…" She supported her weight on her hands and shoved her brother lightly, her voice worried. "Please, wake up."

Beat looked pretty battered and bruised, but already it seemed like he was healing in places. He was unconscious still.

"He'll be okay; the both of you just need rest." Cleo said, emerging silently behind them. "I couldn't get to him in time before I realized Spira was planning to knock you off. I'm sorry. I did manage to get Rhyme though."

"Thank you," Eri said to the Egyptian Producer, whom dipped her head in acceptance to the comment. She then left, and Shiki sighed.

"Where's Joshua? He won't be happy."

Neku shrugged at Shiki. "Last time I saw him he had been called away with the other Composers."

Rhyme said weakly, unhappily, "He's not going to be pleased with Beat and I."

She was dead right.

~***~

**_First of all, sorry for the long update gap! Second of all, though, can you do me a favor?_**

**In a review, or the poll on my page, or both, can you tell me whether or not you would like to see more of what Uzuki is doing with the foreign Players in Shibuya?**

**_I would greatly appreciate it. If the answer is yes, though I will not write their entire session, I will add more detail to the missions she gives out. If no, then you'll just see what's important._**

**_Anyway, please drop a review!_**

**_Next Chapter: Shibuya vs Paris_**


	6. Day Four: Escape

**Chapter Five: Shibuya VS Paris**

_Day Four: Escape_

Shiki didn't know if Joshua was angry or calm, like usual. The boy just raised his eyebrows at Rhyme when she told him about what had happened.

"Rest then, dear. And is your brother okay?"

"He'll be fine." Rhyme looked puzzled, staring into his purple gaze with her own, clear blue. The Composer gave a somewhat irritated sigh.

"Don't worry overmuch. I'm not pleased we lost…" Joshua stared slightly to his left, as if focusing on something. "But I expected it. We're still high in the rankings, and Spira lost points for almost killing Beat. Just make sure we don't lose again."

Shiki said, "Neku and I are playing twice then?"

"That is correct. Let's give Beat all the time he needs to recuperate, hmm?"

Eri looked worriedly up the stairs toward Beat's room. "Yeah…"

Shiki looked at Neku, who had his arms crossed, dark cobalt eyes seemingly looking at nothing.

"Neku?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Let's get some rest; we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

He nodded, heading for the stairs. The others followed her, but Joshua surprised Shiki by calling her back.

She approached warily. "Yes?"

The Composer drummed his fingers together. "I've got something for you."

"Really?" She didn't bother to hide the suspicion in her voice.

Joshua giggled, reaching into his pocket and removing a bright pink sticker that looked like it could fit on her cell phone.

"A sticker?"

Rolling his eyes at her incredulous tone, Joshua smirked. "Yes, dear, a sticker. Not just any sticker…" He showed it to her now, and the little square depicted Mr. Mew and several other stuffed animals frozen in midair. "_Your_ sticker. You tried moving other objects before, correct?"

Shiki pushed her glasses up, keeping them still as she looked down at Mr. Mew. The cat was bouncing from foot to foot on his own accord, tail waving behind him. "Yes. Didn't work."

"Are you even aware of how your cat moves?" Joshua questioned.

Shiki grimaced, not sure. "Isn't it because of my psyche? Groove Pawn?"

"But do you know how that works, exactly?" He pressed.

She bit her lip and he smiled.

"Thought so. Dear, your cat moves due to your Imagination and Soul. You have very…unique components to you. Your Soul was weak but stable when you envied Eri, but now that you're on equal terms…" Joshua looked thoughtful. "Your Soul greatly increased in strength. Eri also has similar Imagination to you, but she doesn't have an outlet for hers, which may be the key to her problem."

Shiki didn't reply, just watched her little skipping cat.

"Shiki," he said, earning her attention now. "This sticker, if you place it on your phone or anywhere on your person I suppose, will allow you to redirect your flow of Imagination and Soul into other objects." He put a hand up to stop Shiki's questions. "Do _not_ remove your Soul and Imagination; let's say your Energy shall we, from Mr. Mew. It'd be safer to keep him as your original medium. However, be careful how much of your Energy you redirect into other objects. You could end up dangerously destabilizing yourself, particularly your Soul. I wouldn't do more than two or three at a time, counting Mr. Mew in those numbers."

Shiki accepted the sticker, looking at it uneasily. The surface had a glassy glimmer to it. She pulled her phone out and looked up at the Composer again. "Is this what you do during your absences?"

"Mostly, yes. I have something for Neku too, though that is not done yet. Beat and Rhyme will have to wait."

Shiki grimaced, and then slapped the sticker onto her phone. The incoming rush of cold energy crept across her body before vanishing.

Joshua suddenly giggled and smirked, tossing something at her. Shiki scrambled to catch it, and when she held it up she saw it was a doll of Neku.

"That's just a little disturbing." She said dryly, earning another laugh from the Composer.

"Try," Joshua said, sobering up suddenly. His face was serious. "Try bringing life into that doll just like the cat."

Shiki looked down at the doll, feeling a little strange, and closed her eyes. Lukewarm energy slid across her body like silk, settling on her like a second skin. The feeling was so uncomfortable she almost lost her concentration.

The feeling gradually faded, but she felt a drop inside her. It was hard to explain, as if she was now missing something. However, that piece that seemed to be missing just moved somewhere else. She felt like a line was connected to her, a line of energy just like with Mr. Mew. Except now there were two of those.

Of its own accord the Neku doll jumped to the ground and mimicked Neku's battle stance. The sight was so disorienting she gave a little shriek, stepping backwards, and immediately the energy ceased. It all flowed back into the girl, and the doll fell lifeless to the earth.

Mr. Mew looked at her strangely, head cocked to the side. She opened her arms and the doll leaped into her embrace. Hugging the cat tight, she looked at the doll, then at the amused Composer.

"Ah, well, it works. I believe you can probably bring anything to life, if that's what you wish, Shiki." Joshua paused for a moment, as if arranging his words right. "Try not to do it for just any reason though."

She nodded, murmuring thanks and still stroking Mr. Mew as she headed up the stairs.

"Oh, Shiki dear?"

She froze, looking behind her.

"Ah, ah, ah," he waved his finger from side to side, smirking. "I'm not done yet. If push comes to shove, you might be able to impose your Energy on living things."

Shiki paled as he laughed again.

"Isn't that interesting?" Joshua's eyes glittered.

"No." She replied resolutely, heading up the stairs again. She didn't even want to think about what he was implying.

~***~

Shiki woke up from something that could have been a nightmare…Or a dream come true.

She hugged Mr. Mew to her chest. It felt…well, she felt happy and all, but there had been a heavy foreboding air around the entire dream landscape. She thought she was talking to Neku, but then she heard something like a cat screeching nearby, its cry had echoed around the white forest. She even thought she had seen Rhyme, following a pink squirrel. Was she running? From what? Before she had had a chance to ask the girl, the cat had sounded again and she had broke into a desperate jog to escape it.

She felt a little shaky now, and the scent of the castle was giving her a headache. She left her room, fully dressed and prepared, and decided to take a walk to calm her nerves.

Her footsteps echoed in the corridors, and everywhere she looked she imagined she saw towering Noise forms in the shadows. Everything from snarling lynxes to milder deer. The patterns in the walls even took on a sinister shape, and as Shiki passed by a room something glinted.

She stopped, glancing over her shoulder, then walked slowly back toward the room. She paused, looking into the chamber.

Everything was white, as usual, but there was a single mirror in the room. The surface swam with strange images, and everywhere she looked on its exterior Shiki saw nothing but colors.

Shiki stepped closer to the mirror, and she gasped as the colors suddenly pulled in on themselves and rearranged into…

There was a wolf, facing a great dragon that flowed from side to side. The wolf sprang away just as the dragon unleashed a wave of ivory fire.

Shiki inched forward, eyes wide, as she realized something. That dragon seemed awfully familiar…

"You shouldn't be here." A voice said behind her.

Shiki turned around to see a girl with black hair and tawny eyes looking at her. Shiki glanced back at the mirror, but the images had faded again.

"Sorry, I didn't know." She dipped her head slightly before preparing to leave the room.

"You're not going to make it," teased the girl.

Shiki froze. "Sorry?" She turned around but no one was there.

Perturbed, the glasses wearing teen hugged Mr. Mew tighter and wandered off.

~***~

"Where were you?" Neku asked her as she finally found the others in the meeting room. The Angel had already come and gone, and Shiki yanked out her Player Pin as she approached.

"Sorry, I woke up early and decided to explore."

Joshua looked like he was going to say something, but deigned not to.

"Good luck, yo!" Beat told Shiki. She thought he looked a little tired, and there were bandages across his shoulders and back.

_Nasty fall,_ she thought.

"Yeah, good luck. Fate rewards the hardworking." Rhyme smiled.

"You can do it, Shiki. I know you can!" Eri urged.

Neku gave a teasing smile. "What about me?"

"You too," Eri agreed hurriedly, smiling.

"Don't forget your new power, dear." Joshua smirked.

"I'm not stupid," Neku snapped.

Before Shiki could ask what they meant, the light enveloped them.

As the beams released them, the first thing Shiki did was look around to check the signs on the buildings. She saw a hanging design, a sort of flag that draped down near a building that read, "Le Lion Jaune".

_Le Lion Jaune…_She blinked. "This is Paris!" She squealed.

It rose all around them, the magnificent buildings of Paris. Everything from soft, creamy yellow to dark brown, the buildings proudly displayed a variety of signs to attract the many customers walking along the paved roads. Cars zoomed around them as the lights changed, and not far away from them at all Shiki spotted the Eifel Tower and what she thought was the Notre Dame.

A myriad of scents hung in the air, and light filtered through gaps in the clouds as if to emphasize certain areas of interest. It, just like every other city, took Shiki's breath away.

Neku said nothing as their phones rang, and he pulled out the device, flipping it open.

"'_Let me first say bonjour, and welcome to Paris.'_" Neku rolled his eyes. "_'Head for the Eifel Tower, surely you know what it is. Time limit is fifteen minutes. Fail, and lose points for the Tournament. Sincerely yours, the Reapers.'_"

Shiki hissed in pain as the timer scorched across her palm. Shaking her hand, she said, "Let's go, Neku!"

"Right behind you," he replied.

Off they went, running across the city streets. Every person they ran straight through made them feel like someone had doused ice cold water across their bodies. Shivering, Shiki threw it off and made her way toward the base of the great tower.

They had four minutes left when they finally made it, leaning against a café near the structure. Cooling mist drifted across their palms and wiped the timer clean. The Eifel Tower rose like a monument of French greatness, a gray spire of magnificent beauty that spiked the cloudy sky.

"It's going to leave a permanent mark one of these days," Shiki mumbled, glancing at her hand.

Neku looked around them, watching as rain began to patter to the ground. City lights flicked on, and Shiki's eyes glittered as she watched the glowing beacons illuminate the gloom around them. In the semidarkness she spotted a Barrier Reaper watching them.

_That's right; we haven't had much to do with them. Maybe in this Game._

Their phones went off, and Neku pulled it out. "_'Reach Notre Dame. You have forty minutes. Fail, and, well we don't know really. The Reapers.'_"

Shiki grimaced again but wasted no time. "Surely you saw that one movie, _The Hunchback of Notre Dame?_"

Neku nodded, and they went off again, racing through the throngs. Shiki noticed Noise signs in the air, and that puzzled her.

"Neku?"

He looked at her.

"Can you see those Noise symbols?"

He blinked, his eyes once again concerned. "…Noise symbols? Not without the Player Pin."

Swallowing nervously, Shiki reached out and touched one of them. She felt a sort of cold metallic surface beneath her fingers, but it didn't react.

She remembered what Beat had said earlier to her about it. While in Cairo, he had seen Noise symbols actually chasing him, and not Taboo ones either.

_This can't be right. What if…_Shiki's heart thundered. _What if this has something to do with my dream? Rhyme was there too…What if those aren't dreams at all?!_

Neku had come to a halt now, and Shiki wasn't paying attention to that fact. She ran straight into a wall, falling backwards as energy crackled through her entire body. The breath knocked from her, she laid there for a moment before getting up.

"I said 'wall', you know." Neku told her, still looking at her worriedly.

A Reaper snorted with laughter. "Watch where you're going, Mademoiselle." He crossed his arms, his red jacket hanging slackly on his thin frame. "To get past this barrier, you'll have to eliminate some Noise. Just one set. Not too bad. And Monsieur?"

"What?" Neku growled.

For some reason, the way he said that single world made Shiki's skin crawl.

"Keep a good eye on the little lady." A strange sadness entered the Reaper's eyes and Shiki wondered if he pitied her.

_Probably for being dumb enough to run into a wall!_

Neku shook his head, as if getting rid of something, and flipped his Player Pin. He drew a Noise symbol toward them, and Shiki glanced warily at the Reaper before the light slipped her away to the Noise dimensions.

In roaring bursts of static the Noise appeared. One was a gigantic elephant that reared up on its hind legs before crashing down. Ripples of energy exploded out from it, and Shiki retreated desperately.

She wasn't stupid; Shiki knew she was one of the weakest fighters. Even Rhyme might be better than her. However, if Shiki knew how to do anything it was block. She brought her arms up to shield herself as a snarling hedgehog Noise turned and shook a barrage of spikes at her.

Retreating, she almost fell over Mr. Mew as the cat followed her. She leaped, flicking her wrist and catching the hedgehog as it retracted its quills.

The red and green creature gave a hiss of fury, shaking its spines before inching forward and swinging its tail. Shiki dodged it, but forgot the elephant during her concentration on the Noise hedgehog. She gave a scream of pain, gasping as it lifted her clean in the air and flung her.

She hit the wall hard, stars swimming across her vision. Stumbling to her feet, Shiki blocked another explosion of quills before leaping forward and striking at the hedgehog.

It vanished, but at that moment, springing through the disappearing static, a great orange tiger that was built differently than Konishi's caught her chest.

Shiki fell onto her back, but she twisted her hand around, and without thinking, placed it on the tiger's head. She redirected her Energy into the tiger, and she gasped as it suddenly went rigid.

Its red eyes flicked to her, something like fear in their fiery depths. Noise were hunters, prideful of their murderous skills, but to the tiger Noise this girl had just frozen the energy that composed it. It was like water suddenly turning into ice.

Shiki had no idea why this had happened, it was an instinctive thing to stop it from mauling her face, but now she felt a sort of…cold energy flow into her. It was so startling she released her concentration immediately.

She shoved the Noise off, and the tiger began to get some feeling back. Not for long, though. Shiki guided Mr. Mew into its side, and the tiger rolled over before vanishing.

The elephant Noise was nowhere to be seen. Shiki guessed Neku had taken care of it first. She was warped back to his side now, and the Reaper clapped slowly.

"Bravo. Now, if you'd be so kind, head for the Notre Dame. Wall clear!" He waved his hand and the entire crystalline wall collapsed on itself like broken glass. The curtain of rain ignored it and continued to fall unbothered.

Neku looked at his counter. "Thirteen minutes left. Let's go."

The friends raced away again, threading through the streets as the rain came down harder. Everywhere she looked Shiki thought she saw not just Noise symbols now, but the Noise themselves. They were only glimpses and glances in the shadows—bright eyes and dark skin and vibrant tattoos.

_I'm going to regret touching my Energy to a Noise,_ she thought grimly. Somehow, of this fact, she was certain.

It was an odd feeling, mused the girl, as she sprinted after Neku. To see the rain but not feel it. She knew she'd probably be soaked to the bone like the people in the RG if it wasn't for the fact the UG was outside of normal laws.

Shiki snapped back to the present situation now in time to dodge a sign. Even though there are many things in the UG that aren't solid, there are also some things that naturally are. She wondered why that was.

She thought she saw other Players, possibly just people from Paris that had entered the Game, entering a shop opposite of them. It was difficult to tell.

She was exhausted by the time they reached the Notre Dame. They had been running at full speed ever since they first left the Eifel Tower behind them. In the rain it looked like a column of golden light. The shower intensified as the timers vanished.

"Shiki," Neku was forcing himself to breathe evenly despite the fact he was obviously tired. "What's up with you? I'm used to you talking much more than this."

Shiki smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Neku. I'm just awed by the beauty of the areas we go to. Do you think they appreciate Shibuya?"

"They better. It's just as good as the things here." He gestured somewhat disinterestedly to the areas around them.

Their phones rang, and this time the mission was to reach _Le Lion Jaune._

"I know where that is," Shiki said. "Let's go."

~***~

To Felice and Dominique, Shibuya was a wild and mysterious city that echoed with the voices of many people. The whole city, thought Felice, seemed to be comprised of technology.

Or at least where they were.

They were at the Scramble Crossing, or so Felice thought. Wherever they were, a gigantic TV screen played ads constantly as they waited for the mission mail. Their first mission had been to find the Crossing from their original position at the Station Underpass.

"I can imagine Shiki and her friend here," Felice told Dominique as they marveled at the sights. The French girl suddenly felt very small indeed in this massive city.

"As can I. I still hope we can talk to her again before this is over."

Felice looked sadly at her brother. "You have no sense, brother. She has a boyfriend, that Neku kid."

"I can sweep her off her feet," he complained.

"Smitten, are you?" Felice giggled as their phones rang and she read the message. Her eyes suddenly widened. "What? Look what it says, Dominique!"

Her brother looked at his own phone, confusion written clear across his own features. "_'Reach the fifty-two times two. Fail, and be obliterated, you 000s. The Reapers.'_"

"Who's this crackpot? This isn't the same person that wrote the other message." Felice said.

"Yeah, less curse words. What's going on?"

Felice looked thoughtful, saying nothing.

"Oh _crap_, we don't have time for this." Dominique grumbled.

_Who _is_ this nutcase?_ Felice wondered with a sigh.

~***~

The friends decided that since the mission had told them to find _Le Lion Jaune_ they should enter it.

Neku felt the faint shift of energy as they slid into the RG, and he cut his eyes from side to side as he surveyed the scene.

It looked like a cross between a bar and a family restaurant, with the bar up front and the tables of families everywhere else. A sign declared in many languages, "No Smoking", and two separate TVs, one on sports, the other on cartoons, played in the corners of the room.

"Must be a decal here," Shiki said to him. He looked at her, and once again his heart twisted in fear. She seemed to have yet to notice, but he was certain there was a tiny red dot in each of her pupils, and her eyes had dilated a little so that the brown seemed to have widened.

But…she sounded normal.

_Wait,_ Neku thought. _I don't have to wonder; I can check her Music._

They sat down and ordered something to drink. They drank some soda, and Shiki mused aloud where the mission was.

Neku didn't reply. He summoned up his memories on the Music, and once again the thin ice crept back across his skin. There was a barely perceptible shift, but he felt it, and the boy suddenly heard Music all around him.

Paris's Music was much different than Shibuya's, not as upbeat but still very beautiful and unique, violins accompanying where guitars had played back home.

_Home…I promised everyone…Beat, Rhyme, Shiki, and Eri that we'd get back there in one piece._

Neku relaxed, and the cacophony faded. He focused on Shiki's thoughts.

Her Player Pin blocked exactly what she was thinking, but just as he had feared the girl was very tense and anxious underneath her façade of calmness. Her Music was mostly the same, but he heard a harsher, disharmonic note thumping secretly amid the warm symphony of her heartbeat.

He reached out and touched her, doing something by simple instinct. He saw a spark of energy leap from his fingertips and touch her skin. Immediately the harsher note faded, but it was still present. She relaxed, giving him a grateful glance.

She probably thought it was just him alone that had soothed her, but Neku knew it was the strange energy Joshua had given him.

Suddenly, Neku's blood ran cold. Not because their phones had rang, but because he realized something.

_They were in the RG._

And he had just used UG powers!

Neku gritted out a single word from between his teeth as he realized what that meant.

"Joshua."

~***~

Shiki blinked as Neku suddenly tensed beside her and growled Joshua's name. Once again that sound made her shiver.

"Neku?" She asked, concerned. She was thankful for the silent support Neku had given her; she didn't feel quite so uneasy.

"Nothing. Let's see here…The mission is, _'Find and destroy the Deceiver. You have five and a half hours. Fail, and…you know what happens. The Reapers.'_"

The timers flared into existence painfully, leeching into their skin and burning their palms. Shiki caught her breath quickly, shaking her head.

_I'll never get used to this feeling,_ she thought sadly.

"The Deceiver? The hell?" Neku snarled under his breath. His eyes flashed, but Shiki knew his anger seemed directed elsewhere.

"I don't know either Neku. This could be a problem."

"I'm certain it is. Who could be a Deceiver…One of the other Players? Reapers? Me?" Suspicion touched his eyes. "You?"

Shiki shook her head. "Not me, Neku. I promise."

He simply shrugged. "What now…" His brow furrowed in thought. "Let me search the Music, maybe we'll find some clues."

Shiki looked confused. "Music?"

"As Josh's Proxy, I can 'listen to the Music' or some crap."

Shiki shrugged. "Go ahead," she murmured. She secretly thought that with every interaction he had with Joshua or the UG, he got two steps farther away from her.

~***~

"What the _hell_?" Dominique sounded more surprised than angry.

Felice raised her eyebrows. "Language, brother." She chided softly.

"Sorry sis, but what the heck is this garbage heap supposed to be?"

Felice didn't know. They had gotten to 104 to find a giant garbage heap that the RG civilians passed through.

Before his sister could reply, a voice sounded from above them.

"Attention all you 000s! This sculpture marks the marvelous return of Sho Minamimoto! A feat as glorious as this deserves to be celebrated to an infinite magnitude! Foreign Players be warned, you cowardly French reciprocals!"

"What the-"

Interrupting Dominique, Felice called out, "_Cowardly_ French Players? Show yourself!"

The sound of something falling down the heap in front of them reached their ears, and then someone jumped down beside the siblings.

He looked rather wild, or so Felice thought. He had eyes that glinted with something like a sort of _intelligent_ insanity, with dark hair that fell around his neck and was cut just above his shoulders. He wore dark gray pants with rips in them, black boots, a black jacket with four dull gold buttons, a black hat to match and a red bandanna. His skin had just the faintest hint of brown to it, and honest to God Felice didn't know if that was some sort of glove or a shadowy tattoo that made his left hand look like it was black, with the designs drifting off once it left his hand and vanishing before going too far down his arm. The strange man also had a nasty, fanged smirk on his face as he toyed with a loose yellow belt buckle that hung limply on his jacket. His other hand carried a blue megaphone.

"Sho Minamimoto? Freakin' complicated name." Dominique mused. He stroked his black hair thoughtfully.

Felice shot her brother a glare, and he just gave her a grin, green eyes flashing. Her own blue eyes glinted with distrust now as she faced Sho. "Are you the Game Master?"

"Yes, I am." Unexpectedly he shouted, "Pop quiz! How long will you survive in this Game?"

Felice rolled her eyes. "The whole day."

Sho suddenly grabbed his microphone and shouted into her face, "_Wrong!_ You'll survive one trillionth of a second! Polynomial growth is guaranteed for me!" He threw his hands back, as if to claw the air, and laughed.

"It's been much more than one trillionth of a second," said Dominique.

Sho paused, eyes suddenly narrowing in fury. "Well, if you want to play that way." He shouted into the megaphone again. "If you want to be literal about it! See farther than you currently do, you 000! Use a different set, like how math uses Upsilon!"

"_What?_ My brain hurts," moaned Dominique.

"Excuse me, we don't have a mission. Isn't that odd?" Felice wondered if poor Shiki and Neku had to deal with this guy.

Sho lowered his megaphone and grinned wider. "Possibly. So willing to dive into the matrix! I want to have a little more fun before…" He paused. "I have to make one of you into a _remainder._"

Laughing at his odd threat, Felice exchanged a look with her brother. "This guy is…"

Sho abruptly lifted his megaphone again. "Want to laugh do you, you radicand?! It's only the timer that's stopping me from decimating you! New mission!" He narrowed his eyes. "I order you to find the polar coordinates of this very spot! Time limit is one hundred twenty minutes!"

The timers burned their hands, and Felice realized at least here, that it wasn't necessary for text messages.

"_Find the what?_" Dominique cried in horror.

Felice sighed. "I know what he means…"

"No complaints!" Sho declared loudly. "I hate complaints! CRUNCH! I'll add them to the heap!"

~***~

"Any luck?" Shiki asked Neku after an hour had passed. He opened his eyes, taking a sip from his drink. She saw the glint of victory in his gaze.

"I found who we're looking for," he said. "He's here."

"How do you know?"

"I was listening to the Music…and…" Neku winked at her. "This guy, he isn't protected here. He forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"Reapers don't have Player Pins, they're just…protected."

"Okay…?"

"He's in the RG and forgot that. I searched through a lot of the city, but I eventually found him. The thoughts were crossing his mind. If he isn't the Deceiver, he's still someone that knows an awful lot about the UG."

As far as Shiki could gather, at least here, the Reapers were protected in the UG from scanning. In the RG that special guard vanished.

Neku stood and Shiki followed him. The pair approached a tall, dark skinned teen in a white outfit. He looked rather imposing; despite the fact he couldn't be much older than Neku, and he had ferocious gray eyes.

"Are you the Deceiver?" Shiki asked him.

The teen blinked. "Oh?"

"Cut the crap, I know it's you." Neku said.

The teen frowned. "How did you find me so fast? That mission should have been impossible without--"His eyes narrowed. "Dang, you're a Proxy ain't ya? Good." He unexpectedly chuckled. "I wanted to weed out Shibuya's Proxy."

When Neku just glared, the teen gave an irritated sigh, ruffling his own smoothed back red hair.

"Very well, you finished before hand which means…We have an hour to kill, do we not? I order you to clear the Noise from this area, you have one hour."

When the timers flashed into life, taking joy in their solitary quest to record every minute, Shiki realized this teen was the Game Master, and must not be able to attack them just yet. This mission was to fill in the time until the three hour mark.

"You're Lucifer." Shiki said.

Lucifer smiled, but it didn't touch his gray eyes. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Felice talked about you," Shiki said as Neku summoned the Noise of _Le Lion Jaune_ to them.

The light flashed them away, Shiki turned to confront the horde of Noise that prowled toward her, slavering at the mouth and snapping deadly fangs. In the Noise realms, it seemed as if everything had vanished in the pub except for the furniture.

"_No problem, right, Neku?"_

Her encouragement seemed to work, because Noise began falling left and right of her as she sent Mr. Mew cannon balling after all of the enemies in sight.

Bounce off of a head there, crash into a side here, dodge that and block this…

She fell into the mindless groove of battling, her movements sure and swift, and Shiki suddenly heard a voice from within.

_I draw near._

That same voice that had spoken to her on the bridge in Italy surprisingly changed from a low purr to a growl in her mind.

And…she hated it. She, without warning, suddenly knew that this voice wasn't a good thing. It was very bad.

And there would be no escape from it anytime soon.

~***~

Felice found it impossible to even _attempt_ the problem, because the strange Reaper on the hill was loudly proclaiming math terms above her head.

"Sine! Cosine! Tangent!"

"This is hopeless," Dominique said.

"Cosecant! Secant! Cotangent!"

"It wouldn't be nearly so bad if he wasn't yelling right next to us." Felice answered. Privately, she thought to herself that all Japanese people were _weird._

"You! Both of you 000s!" Sho growled, leering down at the kids whom had been sitting as they attempted to work out the unfeasible mission. "Don't like the mission, do you?"

"To be honest, hell no." Dominique replied.

"Fine! My return has put me in a good mood today, which is fortunate for you, because clearly you're…" He raised his megaphone and the kids covered their ears. "Out of your vector! Now," He continued in a calmer voice. "Take on these Noise! You have one hundred and forty minutes. 777, Tenho, BJ!"

The Def March Harriers appeared, with their leader looking somewhat disturbed by the scene in front of him. "Yeah?" 777 asked.

"Summon Noise. Right now! All three of you! These two have asked for a differential equation!"

"We can't add too much at once, the rules say--"

Interrupting BJ, Sho shouted again, "Rules! Worthless, just like everything else here! CRUNCH! I'll add them to the heap!"

The Harriers exchanged looks, and then 777 flicked his wrist with a shrug and summoned Noise decals, along with the rest of them.

Felice paled, standing up as a swarm of symbols surrounded them. Dominique said quietly, "Is it too late to switch back?"

Sho laughed madly, having had heard him. "Yes it is, you sinusoid!"

~***~

"Pierre and Lucille aren't pleased with me," said Lucifer as Neku and Shiki returned.

Neku was exhausted, but he was also slightly uneasy. While fighting he had sworn his Pins now carried a white aurora.

_Joshua has some explaining to do._

"Who are they?" Shiki asked as she caught her breath. The timers vanished from view.

"The Harriers. Both blonde. They're Felice's and Dominique's parents you know. I promised Felice her parents wouldn't be harmed."

Shiki nodded, but Neku crossed his arms.

"Well? What now?" He demanded.

Lucifer stood up, walking past them and heading for the exit. "It wouldn't be fantastic to find inside, no? _Oui_, _oui,_ let us fight outside to cause _le carnage. _Defeat the Game Master of Paris outside of _Le Lion Jaune,_ you have three hours. Fail, and lose points_."_

Neku and Shiki followed him. They found the storm had increased and it was growing difficult to see. Lightning flashed and illuminated the scene briefly as the Game Master spoke.

"I wanted to do a different approach, you know. Unfortunately I had no way of knowing the Proxy was playing today, or this scheme would have worked. _Sacre bleu_, thank the heavens, that the rain has increased to the roar of a screaming tiger!"

Shiki, at the word "tiger", suddenly looked uneasy. Neku directed his attention back to the Game Master.

"I'm afraid we'll have to fight now. You better pray your Game Master hasn't harmed Felice too badly or…"

Neku noticed Lucifer's voice had shifted into a low growl.

"You will pay."

The lightning flashed again to reveal the half transformed Game Master. Brown and white bands had covered his body, with streaks of black, and in the gloomy weather Neku thought the sight was rather sinister. Red eyes flared into existence and the wings enclosed, shrinking on themselves before exploding outwards.

Neku realized he was in the Noise dimension now, and the lightning flashed once more, actually striking the Eifel Tower in the distance in a flash of yellow sparks.

A voice snarled near his ear, "This is _Cantus Gulo._"

Neku dodged just in time as the wolverine's massive paw swung by his head. He activated his Pins, sending out a stream of fire that brightened the entire scene.

During his break from the Games, he had switched some of his Pins out and he had a formidable deck. He activated the "Creepy Weepy Barrier", which surrounded him in a dark shield while healing him at the same time, and redirected the fire.

It caught Lucifer in the face, and the wolverine snarled, pawing at his muzzle in a vain attempt to stop the fire from spreading.

Neku dashed forward, slicing at the wolverine at the same time. A band snapped on the beast, and he roared.

Pain touched Neku suddenly, and he waited for it to fade as he fled through the rain. The lightning flashed again, and he noticed Lucifer running parallel to him in an attempt to catch him.

Neku leaped again, catching the Noise in the chest. Claws scraped his side but Neku paid them no mind, since the barrier had taken the sting from it.

The barrier, combined with the fire, was too much for the wolverine and he retreated. He reared up, gripping the shield and biting down again and again.

Neku knew eventually it would break, so he raised his hands and sent out another long stream of flames right as the shield fractured.

The wolverine snarled in fury, turning his head away from the blast. Neku felt power unexpectedly on his fingertips, not the burning anger of the blaze but something else…Something colder.

A white beam struck from above, and Neku himself briefly glowed as it crashed down on Lucifer's head.

~***~

Shiki retreated, straining to see in the dark as the Noise advanced on silent paws toward her. He murmured things in the darkness that the wind caught and carried away, but whatever he was saying made her shiver. The rain continued to cascade downward in a dull silver curtain.

She launched Mr. Mew at the shape, and the stuffed cat bounced off of its muzzle. With a furious shout the wolverine charged. Shiki sidestepped him and hit him again on his back and shoulder.

Another of the tattoo bands snapped, and Lucifer gave another bellow.

Shiki tensed, waiting for more, flattening herself to the wall outside of _Le Lion Jaune_.

Red eyes flashed in the darkness, and Shiki was reminded of her fight with the chef Reaper, whose name always slipped her mind.

She shivered, and the wolverine prowled to her side before jumping.

Shiki had been ready, and she slammed him to the ground. Sliding across the floor, Lucifer struggled to his paws again. Suddenly, she saw him give a great roar of pain though she hadn't touched him.

The rain was lightening, and she found it easier to see the great wolverine as he called Noise symbols to his side.

Shiki swallowed nervously as a tiger bounded toward her, but she shook it off. More Noise was running with it, eyes narrowed and flickering like cold fire.

_Neku's counting on me!_

Shiki knocked the tiger aside before jumping Mr. Mew from its head to the bear's. She then jumped up and swiped her cat across both of them.

Lucifer taunted, "Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!"

"Lions?" Shiki said.

She sensed a presence behind her, and quickly turned around to face her foe while at the same time retreating backwards.

A great golden lion had jumped off of the sign that had hung over _Le Lion Jaune_. It shook its loose mane and roared.

Shiki felt Neku activate a Fusion, and was grateful for his timing. Mr. Mew started firing lasers from his eyes, and that's when Shiki noticed, while standing on her giant cat, that the beams were white.

"Neku, nice timing!" She called, having no time to dwell over the odd sight.

He nodded and they returned to their dimensions. The only one strong enough to survive that onslaught had been the lion Noise, and after asking Neku, Shiki focused her attention the lion so he could fight Lucifer unbothered.

She felt Neku take a bad hit to the leg, and healing energy swept across her skin a moment later. Mr. Mew succeeded in destroying the lion, but at that moment the wolverine caught her.

Lucifer threw her across the air and she landed heavily. Stars danced in front of her vision, and she struggled to her feet. Mr. Mew's movements were more sluggish now as his mistress tried to collect her thoughts.

In the light shower she saw Lucifer running toward her again, and she looked behind her and saw a gargoyle statue.

She placed her hand on it, and shifted some of her Energy into the stone structure. With a screech of rock against stone the gargoyle stood up and met the wolverine head on.

Let's just say a gargoyle hurts more than a stuffed cat, powered up or not. She hadn't actually expected it to obey her.

The gargoyle shattered, and Shiki withdrew her Soul and Imagination right as it did. Dazed and groaning under his breath, Lucifer stumbled toward her again.

Shiki struck him once more, and the Noise wolverine fell onto his back with a thunderous crash.

~***~

Neku didn't know what had happened, but Lucifer had been attacking him a minute ago.

Now, he was frozen for just the briefest second due to something on Shiki's end. That was enough. Neku sent out a stream of concentrated fire and ice that engulfed the wolverine completely, and the next moment static drifted toward the sky.

Shiki returned to his side, and the two watched as Lucifer straightened up and faced them with a look of utter despair.

"I-I lost." His black, violet edged wings drooped and vanished.

And the next second their cell phones rang, signifying the Composer of Paris wished to give them their prize.

~***~

Felice leaned tiredly against the wall, clicking the Golden Cross healing Pin. As the soothing energy healed all of the wounds that had scraped the skin from her body, she looked to Dominique.

"Now we've got to fight that crackpot." Her brother said.

Felice nodded in agreement as Sho approached them, cracking his fists and grinning hugely.

"You think you're high in magnitude, do you, you filthy radians?!"

"Nope." Dominique said immediately.

Sho blinked, and then laughed. "Then you're one hundred percent correct, reciprocal! Quiz time! How long will you last in a fight against me?!"

Felice smiled serenely. "Please tell."

"Not even enough time to find the foci of an ellipse!" Sho shouted.

Sho stepped toward them, then suddenly not one, but _several_ long wing pairs sprouted from his back. He began to breathe heavily, eyes wide, and black and gold tattoos curled around his body like snakes and his teeth lengthened as he cackled wildly. Red eclipsed his eyes and he warped them to the Noise dimensions.

Felice grabbed her Pins, searching wildly around 104's plaza. But she didn't see the--

"So zetta slow!"

The French girl fell onto her face as Sho kicked her over. Noise symbols dropped their deadly hunters down on the earth, and Felice struggled to her feet.

Lightning rained down from the sky, chasing the Noise back. Sho dodged it, bounding toward her. She kept her cool as the gigantic gold and white lion neared her, and then tore the very earth up with a Pin. Lifting the piece with the lion on it, she flipped it over and dropped it down.

In a flash of static Sho teleported and Felice turned to face the Noise.

~***~

Dominique loved sports, and he kicked balls of energy like he was only playing a game of soccer. The balls bounced across the field, hitting the enemies and rebounding for a bit before vanishing.

Sho appeared behind him, lashing out with his claws. Having faster reflexes than his sister, Dominique ducked and backed away, trying to keep an eye on the penguin Noise while at the same time warily watching the insane Game Master.

Sho growled, "You're outta your vector!" before leaping clear across the distance. He avoided a ball and then struck Dominique across the face.

Bending his energy so they didn't form a ball but a bat, Dominique struck with all of his strength at the lion.

Sho gave a snarl of fury, but besides that he didn't flinch. He continued to cut off Dominique's attempts to get around him, backing the boy into a corner.

"_Felice, Fusion maybe?"_

"_Is now a good time?"_

"_Yes!"_

She and Dominique flashed to the same realm, raining down rainbow energy spheres from everywhere. They bounced and struck Sho multiple times, and bound by the rules, he couldn't summon more Noise to distract them.

He took the hits, looking uneasy now, and warped to deal with easier prey.

Unused to Sho, who teleported instead of existing in two realms at once like Lucifer, the siblings struggled to deal with the lion that started warping more and more often.

He occasionally gave wild, math filled shouts as he harried the Players, sometimes only appearing to lash out once before vanishing again.

He was weakening though, Dominique saw, his warps becoming less frequent along with his attacks as static leaked from wounds in his side.

He left Dominique again, to attack Felice he thought, but then Sho suddenly appeared not one second after he had left. Having had broken his previous pattern, the boy hadn't unexpected the Game Master to return so soon.

Sho growled, thrusting him against the wall before bringing his claws back and swiping the boy's chest. With his legs free, Dominique struggled to get enough space to kick his energy spheres, but to no avail.

Sho bit down savagely, blood leaking from his jaws, and tossed Dominique aside like a rag doll.

He prepared to spring after the battered and bloody boy, but then a flash of white Angel feathers blocked him. He pulled back before the sacred feathers could harm his body, shaking his head viciously. Too caught up in the battle, he teleported to Felice and--

She had been charging her power, being a Composer's Proxy herself, and now unleashed the white blast down onto the golden lion. The light was all too familiar to the Game Master, and his eyes widened in shock.

Sho fell onto his stomach, still in Noise form; as he listened to Hanekoma speak.

"Noel, get Dominique out of here."

Another Angel with platinum hair in a ponytail bent down and took the boy away. Felice rushed toward Hanekoma.

"Is my brother going to--"

"We don't know. Be brave though, kid. From what I've seen he'll pull through this." Sanae assured her.

Felice approached Sho, who was too weak to move.

"Did we lose or win? I can still fight…" The girl said quietly.

Sho was impressed she was even on her feet after the beating her brother took. She had some energy gathered still around her palms.

"Don't know. A tie, perhaps. We wouldn't be the first to have a Game where neither the Game Master nor the Players can continue." Sanae said.

"Who is this guy?" Felice asked, eyeing Sho warily. "Is he your--"

"Not _regular_ Game Master, he was on a trial run by our Composer. His unpredictability is something he was counting on." Judging by his tone, it was clear it wasn't a choice he favored.

"He almost killed my brother." Felice's voice sounded choked.

"I know. We're sorry. I don't know what J is thinking sometimes…" Hanekoma trailed off, then he said, "Don't get too near--"

Felice's eyes had tears in them. "You almost killed my brother!" She shouted, racing toward the prone form of Sho.

Sho's eyes, which had been almost closed, snapped open and he leaped to his paws. The world shifted wildly, as if it was reluctant to stand still, but he kept his footing. He sprang to meet Felice, but once again a barrier of ivory feathers stopped him.

He landed lightly, spitting in fury, and returned to his true form. He smirked at the girl on the opposite side of the holy guard, and he saw her eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Heh, you did better than I would have thought, you inverse cosecant."

Felice said something furiously in French that strangely didn't translate. Hanekoma sent her away in a flash of light, and then approached Sho in his prison of divine white feathers.

"Too far, Sho. We warned you." Sanae's eyes narrowed.

Sho looked genuinely surprised. "I've got to ask, you 000. What else were you thinking I'd do?"

~***~

Neku marveled at the sight of the blue and black Eifel Tower Pin that represented Paris, France, given to him by Jean Luc and Leonille, the Composer and Conductor. Jean Luc had been an older gentleman with intelligent, wise eyes whereas Leonille was a stern looking young woman with a baleful glare.

He was back in the meeting room now, and Eri found him and Shiki immediately.

"You won't believe who's fighting the French kids." She showed them her phone, and Neku's eyes widened.

"Pi-Face? What's he doing here?"

Joshua's voice glided to them on the perfumed air. "I brought him back to serve as Game Master."

"Can you _do_ that?" Neku asked.

"Yes, I can. We can switch Reapers who play as Game Master."

"Can you really?" Shiki sounded surprised and skeptical at the same time.

"Yes, we _can_ have two different Game Masters. You might have been fighting against one of the alternatives without ever knowing."Joshua looked down. "I picked Sho for his…ah…"

"Utter randomness?" Neku supplied.

"Yes. We got a tie, which is better than losing. I thought perhaps Sho would at least earn a draw if he fought against any Proxies."

"What about Uzuki?"

"She'll go next. I thought she might appreciate a rest." Joshua smirked now at Neku. "Congratulations on winning, Neku. You too, Shiki. We still have so much to do."

With that the Composer turned and walked back up the stairs, and for reasons Neku didn't know, Rhyme followed.

~***~

_**A very merry holiday to you all—whatever you celebrate.**_

_**Anyway, for those wondering why I wrote Sho's lion as gold and not black, my Beta, James, has suggested that Joshua wouldn't let him remain powered up with Taboo energy. I agree in retrospect, therefore I also changed his lion from black to gold under his suggestion.**_

_**Anyway, drop a review, will you? Thanks.**_

_**Next Chapter: Shibuya VS Moscow**_


	7. Day Five: No Chance

**Chapter Six: Shibuya VS Moscow**

_Day Five: No Chance_

Rhyme's voice was accusing as she followed Joshua up the stairs. "You brought back _Sho_?"

"Yes, I did." Joshua replied, seemingly unfazed by any of this. "He's a wildcard, to be sure, and no one would have expected him."

Rhyme remembered what Joshua had said about certain rules only being explained to certain people. Certain rules for certain ears.

"Joshua…are you…talking to me, in my dreams?"

Joshua paused, and for a moment he was caught in the strange sparkling white light that flowed down from above that illuminated the whole corridor.

"You dream of me, how sweet." He kept walking, not looking at her. Rhyme followed uneasily.

"But Joshua…I--you--"

He paused again, purple eyes bright as he looked over his shoulder. "Oh? Something the matter?"

"I-I've been having dreams with you in them." She put her hand up before he could interrupt with a sarcastic comment. "Let me finish. Then you always say the same thing about me not knowing what the power of the dream is. Then my Noise form gets freaked out and starts bolting away through this weird forest."

Joshua blinked. "I see."

Rhyme thought he would say something else, but he just crossed his arms, obviously deep in thought. "Rhyme, dear…"

"Yes?" She stepped closer to hear him, and she wasn't even a foot away now. His eyes flickered to her then away again. It was strange, she knew, because Joshua could easily maintain eye contact with anyone. He seemed to be struggling with some internal conflict.

"Rhyme. If your Noise runs, _run._"

"Why?"

"…Because, dear."

She gave an irritated sigh, turning away. "Okay, Joshua. I'll be sure to run. So, is that you or not I'm dreaming of?" When she didn't get a reply, she turned around again, faintly annoyed.

But there was no one in the corridor anymore, and nothing left but a white feather. She picked it up. The feather's edges were rough and strangely sharp, but the feather itself was soft and flexible.

"Why do you have to be so mysterious?" Rhyme sighed, pocketing the feather. She thought she heard a soft giggle.

~***~

Shiki rolled over in her sleep.

A cold mist coated everything, and it seemed to create ice across her skin. She shivered, watching her breath float away through the White Forest.

She perked her ears up as she heard a sound. A cat shrieked right behind her. When she whirled around, she saw Mr. Mew on the ground in front of her.

"Mr.--Mr. Mew?"

The precious black cat curled his tail around his paws and hummed to himself. Shiki gave a weak chuckle and stroked his soft black fur. "Why're you growling for?"

Mr. Mew opened his eyes, and Shiki recoiled at the flash of crimson in his gaze. She stumbled backwards into a tree, and turned to run. Before she could do anything, she ran into--

"Eri?" She gasped, stepping backwards again. Her friend rubbed her head, grimacing from where Shiki had run into her.

"Shiki? What're you doing here?!"

"I was about to--"Shiki gasped as she felt claws rake into her side, leaving behind a burning streak of torn flesh. She whipped around just as Mr. Mew launched himself at her again. She sidestepped and broke into a run through the white forest, and she was relieved when she heard Eri behind her.

Another cat call sounded, and suddenly a monstrous white Noise reared up above her. The straps that composed its arms, legs, and tail were rainbow colored and flashed brightly in the mist. Shiki yelped and turned around, and she saw Eri's eyes widen.

"No, no!" She whimpered, her entire body stiff.

"What?" Shiki shouted grabbing her friend's hand before the big white Noise could get her. She was scared too, sure, but was Eri really so afraid of just that one white Noise? She hadn't moved an inch since seeing it, unless she forced her. They plunged into the freezing fog, and Shiki realized with no small amount of surprise that her glasses were crystallizing over, so it looked like a spider's web of ice on her glasses.

_What's going on here?_

The farther they ran into the white fog, the more clouded everything became, until suddenly--

Shiki sat up, gasping, half expecting her glasses to be frozen completely, or her side to be torn due to Mr. Mew's claws—when did he get _claws_?! But there was nothing wrong with her. What kind of dreams were these?

The unspoken question hung in the air. Shiki didn't want to bother Neku, so after getting dressed she went to talk to the only person that would put up with phone calls or visits no matter what time of day it was.

Her knock was hesitant, light, but Eri wasn't a heavy sleeper, and on the third knock her friend answered the door.

Eri brushed her reddish pink hair from her eyes. "Something the matter, Shiki?" She stepped back, her gaze full of concern, and Shiki stepped into the room.

"Have you been having weird dreams lately, Eri?" Shiki asked, getting straight to the point.

A pause, but only for a moment. "Yeah," she admitted. "It's not…not very…"

"About what?" Shiki sat down with Eri on the bed, and the two friends nervously confided their fears to each other.

"There's this big white Noise cat, its stalking me through the woods." Eri whispered unhappily.

"Rainbow streaks?"

"You've seen it?!"

Shiki nodded. "I just woke up from a dream like that, don't you remember? You were there."

Eri turned her head to the side, wringing her hands in her lap. "Not really, Shiki. I don't remember much of anything when I wake up."

The silence was uneasy, and the perfumed stench of the Palace was giving the girls a headache. Shiki shook her head, cleared her throat. "This is strange. We need to talk to Joshua."

"Can he help us?"

"He's the Composer, if he can't, no one can." Shiki was about to go find him when a knock came on their door.

A pause, then Shiki called, "C'mon in."

Neku opened the door, with Beat behind him, and Rhyme peeking out from under her brother's elbow.

"Um…Joshua wants us, Shiki." Neku said. He might have been wondering why they were in the room together and obviously they were worried about something. But then again, he knew they were friends, and possibly he assumed it was an issue they could straighten out without his help.

Shiki shot Eri a look, but her friend just shook her head. They weren't going to tell anyone, then. Not right now at least.

Following Neku down the white corridors, she tried to calm down. The dreams were probably just some strange side effect from the Palace, right? A trick from the Angels? She wasn't sure.

"Spill it," Neku said as they walked. Shiki sighed, knowing that Neku was observant—especially when it came to her—and he hadn't missed how uneasy she looked.

"I-I'm just having nightmares, Neku." She crossed her arms and smiled slightly to reassure him, but she dropped her gaze as soon as he turned around. She was surprised when he tilted her chin up so she had to stare at him.

"Apparently the nightmares bother you more than you show. You can tell me." His dark blue eyes challenged her to try and avoid the statement.

"Well--"

They both started slightly when they heard the sound of footsteps. She turned, along with him, to see Joshua pacing slowly toward them at his usual speed.

"Neku, dear, thanks for coming." He smirked. "This is for you, though I think Shiki should see." The Composer dropped a blue Pin into Neku's palm, and the Proxy looked at it at different angles.

"What's this do?" Neku questioned.

For some reason Shiki didn't know, she thought he looked really suspicious. Didn't he trust the Composer, his friend as he often said?

Joshua was undeterred. "It's a medium to focus your new energy through."

"So that _was _you." His voice shifted to show accusation.

"Just a benefit of being my Proxy," replied Joshua cheerily.

Neku growled slightly, and Shiki had a feeling it was something between them.

"Try it. I call it Dissonance." He urged, and she knew he was eager to see its results.

Grudgingly, Neku closed his fist around the Pin and tried to call its psyche out. He was rewarded with a jolt of white light that scorched and burned his hand. "What the hell?!"

"You have to be more careful." Joshua chided softly. "And calm. The energy reacts to strong emotion after all."

Neku tried again, and as Shiki watched, she saw a great globe of white energy, blinding to her eyes, soar out across the hallway. It seemed it would slam into the farthest wall, but without turning his head, Joshua sent down a similar, though brighter, wall of the strange light and nullified it from above.

"Excellent. But Neku, there's a rule to that Pin. You can't use it more than five times during a Game."

"Whatever, Josh. Thanks." He grumbled. Neku added, "But why was it important for Shiki to see it?"

Joshua flicked his eyes to her, and Shiki grimaced. "Oh nothing really. Shiki, do make sure he doesn't use it when he's not calm, hmm? Or _that_ will happen." He pointed with one slim finger and Shiki turned her head to see that Neku's hands were blackened around the edges.

"Are you okay?" She asked anxiously. Over their still active Pact, she felt a stirring of pain.

"Fine." Neku replied, his gaze hard and distant. Shiki sighed, hating when he got like this. She took his hand in hers and gently massaged the injured sections.

"Let's go, the Angels should be assembling soon." With that Joshua turned and headed away down the hall with the two following him. After a few seconds Shiki realized that she was holding Neku's hand and blushed, dropping it and walking a little ahead.

~***~  
"Let's go again, Neku." Shiki suggested as the hooded Angel vanished from their sight. "Let's give Beat another day of rest."

Neku grunted indifferently.

Looking around her, Shiki stroked her stuffed cat and once more thought about the dream. She promised to talk to Eri about it later, and now her friend was chatting with Beat and Rhyme quietly, with Joshua examining his cell phone.

Noticing her look, Joshua lifted his head and smirked at her. Shiki narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling that he was doing something with Neku, but there was no way for her to stop it.

She noticed Neku was rubbing his back now with one hand, the other in his pocket.

"You okay?"

"Back hurts. No big deal. Probably just a Noise or something that did it." He crossed his arms, and if he was hurt, it was too weak to be felt over their Pact.

Rhyme waved good bye and called good luck along with dozens of other voices wishing their companions the same as she and Neku were swept away in a flash of light.

When it cleared, Shiki looked around anxiously and wondered where they were.

They were on a broad gray bridge that spanned a dark river. Across from them was the main city, all towering white, cream, and silver buildings. Stretching the highest was an impressive structure of dull yellow, with a spire that tapered off at the top and out of existence. Behind her was more of the city, and it was so large that wherever she looked it seemed to be everywhere. Her breath was taken away by the sight of something she would describe as palaces or manors, great red constructs or gold, or even a delicate shade of silver-blue. Boats ran on the river, and cars passed right by them as they stood nearest the rail of the bridge they were on.

Shiki spotted, in the distance, a magnificent edifice with four towers that rose up with different colored bulbs on top that were streaked with superlative designs. Between them rose another looming section from the reddish pink building, thinner but no less grand. It was such an impressive sight that she knew she'd never be able to describe it like she was actually _seeing_ it.

"Saint Basil's."

Shiki jumped and turned around to see Neku beside her, also studying the tower. "Huh?"

"Saint's Basil's Cathedral. That's what we're looking at. This is Moscow, Russia."

"How did you know?" She asked in surprise. Was there nothing he _didn't_ know?

"School." Neku reached into his pocket as their phones rang and he read, "_'Welcome to Russia. Reach the Red Square. You have two hours. Fail and lose points. The RoM."_

Shiki hissed as her palm stung, but by now she was almost completely used to it. "Where's the Red Square?"

"It's right around that cathedral, Saint Basil's." Neku explained. He looked at where it was and then set off at a brisk run, with Shiki right behind him.

Strange as it was, she didn't mind these Games, as long as it was with him.

"Good thing we're not affected by crowds or traffic or we'd never reach it in time." For his sake, she tried to be a little more talkative, despite her own confusion.

Neku nodded, listening but not answering. They passed right through people and cars alike, and Shiki wondered why the vehicles were only solid in the Noise realms. Weren't the Noise realms in between the RG and UG or something? What happened to the RG counterparts?

They rounded a corner and headed in the general direction they had seen the elaborately domed structure that was Saint Basil's, sprinting along as fast as they could. They weren't surprised to see a man watching them from a street corner, and Neku threw his arm out to stop Shiki, though she had already noticed.

"What's up, Players? Want to get past this wall? Then eliminate three of the…" The man in the black hoodie waved his hand sort of vaguely. "The Noise symbols that look like mongoose heads. Y'know. Weasel-y?"

"Right." Neku said skeptically. He flipped his Pin, checking for the apparently "weasel-y" Noise emblems. Shiki let him do it, since he always did.

"Get ready." He chained three of them together and then let the battle initiate.

Shiki dropped Mr. Mew from her arms and said to Neku, _"This shouldn't take long."_

_"Piece of cake."_ He agreed.

She turned to face the Noise, and immediately to her despair she saw the transparent body of a rabbit Noise. She quickly told Neku about it before turning to attack the weasels and wolves.

She saw an armadillo, pale brown with purple tattoo bands for claws and a muzzle. It was rolling around trying to avoid her attacks, and she would have bet an autograph from the Prince that it was connected to the rabbit Noise. She struck out at it, attacking it with her cat in a vain attempt to try and open it up. She pretended to ignore the armadillo after she saw it was invincible in its current state, chasing away the wolves and weasels instead. As they exploded one by one into static, she kept a careful eye on the rabbit and armadillo.

It finally opened up, and she ducked, bouncing Mr. Mew from the head of a wolf to the armadillo's in a heartbeat. The creature buckled underneath the stuffed cat's weight, and she sent it flying in a swirl of static. Falling into her battle groove, Shiki twisted and eliminated the rabbit just as Neku got rid of the rest.

The Noise weren't done yet, though. They dropped a single green shape on the ground, and the Noise turtle reared its head and started spinning around in a flurry of movement within its shell. Shiki raised her arms to block, grimacing as it came close. She then jerked Mr. Mew off his feet and into the turtle's skull, sending it cowering into its shell.

A few tense moments passed before the turtle came back out, but she was ready. She and Neku were almost playing with it, knocking it away against the wall, passing their light puck back and forth across the realms.

The turtle fell on its back, claws scratching at the air, and Shiki and Neku both struck at the same time, destroying it.

As the last gray, leaf-like fragments drifted away, Shiki leaned back and grinned, Mr. Mew bouncing beside her as she returned to Neku's side.

"Show offs. And you still have 'bout an hour too. Wall clear!" The Reaper drawled.

Shiki knew it was still quite a ways until they reached the Red Square, but they had enough time, as long as they didn't rush and make a mistake.

They immediately set off down the road without a backwards glance.

~***~

Princess K normally loved visitors in her store.

But it was her opinion that these tourists--for that is what they were she was sure--didn't have any fashion sense. It was up to her to make sure they knew the joy of wearing what some called "Gothic Lolita". Lapin Angelique was all for helping others from their little fashion ruts after all.

She sized up the newcomers in her store, looking lost as usual. One had dark eyebrows and was well muscled, with a white T-shirt and torn jeans. His hair was smoothed back and black, with brown eyes and a strong jaw that gave her the impression of looking at a bull. Beside him was a girl with more sense, she had on a black dress and high heels, silver rings and long glossy black hair, even and well kept. Her eyes sparkled a dexterous blue.

"Welcome to Lapin Angelique," Princess K greeted, walking out from behind a display of clothes. She gestured to the store. "If Princess K can assist you, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Yes, you can actually," said the girl. She had a faint Russian accent but not too heavy so that it messed with her words. "Ah…I need to buy some of these clothes." She raised her eyebrows like the clothes were despicable just to look at, and this made Princess K bristle.

"For you or for someone else?" She asked, trying to force herself to be patient. It wasn't their fault they didn't know fashion when they saw it.

"Myself," said the girl. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Veronika, and this is my friend, Ivan."

"Allo," grunted Ivan, dark eyes flat with boredom.

"Hello Ivan, Veronika. Princess K is my name, please, come to the back…"

Princess K turned and stalked off with Veronika behind her.

Ivan thought, _Why is she speaking in third person?_

~***~

Shiki looked around at the incredible beauty of the Red Square. Everywhere she saw magnificent buildings of all different colors, and there were tourists from all over in the world taking pictures underneath the cloudy gray sky. She thought Saint Basil's was only more glorious up close.

Their Timers had disappeared, and she and Neku marveled at everything while waiting for the next Mission Mail from the Russian Reapers.

"Neku?"

"Hmm?"

Shiki hesitated before saying, "I want to explore the world when I get older. Would you come?"

"Anywhere with you," he replied instantly. She was surprised; he didn't even think it over. She hugged him, and Neku hesitantly did the same. They broke apart after their phones cried out to them, and Shiki answered it.

"_'Eliminate the Noise hiding in the GUM Department Store. You have three hours. Fail and lose points. The RoM.'_"

"GUM Department Store?" Shiki asked. For once Neku didn't know; he shrugged.

The first thing they decided to do was to eavesdrop on the thoughts of some of the people. After a tense three minutes of scanning they found out from a Japanese tourist that the GUM Department Store was on the eastern side of the very square they were in.

Shiki and Neku made for the Department Store, and it was Neku's opinion that it beat even 104, or any other store in Tokyo.

No wonder they had missed it. It looked more like a large palace or church, with towers and spires in honey gold and emerald green. There were windows on every floor and it stretched for quite an impressive distance.

"That's a _store_?!" Shiki said in surprise when they stepped inside. She looked around and gasped.

It was a marvelous sight, a two story if not more building with walkways above her and elegant openings leading into shops. Some were unfamiliar; others were Western--from the US no doubt. To her unending surprise she realized a few were even the most popular brands from Shibuya. She longed to go and explore this huge place--if only Eri was here!

And if only she had time…

Shiki sighed, making a mental note that she just _had_ to come back here with Eri at some point. She just had to.

"Shiki, let's go, we've got Noise to find." Neku led the way, and Shiki grabbed his arm.

"Wait, look." Outside every arch that represented another store was a decal for them to enter the RG. In the mass of the crowds they'd probably not be noticed if they vanished or not, and most likely there was a Reaper monitoring the security cameras to stop any suspicious questions.

For the moment they were still invisible as long as they didn't enter the stores.

"Crap." Neku growled. "We can't get the Noise if we're in the RG. That means the Noise must be hiding somewhere in this place without us having to enter a store."

"Like that wolf that was posing as Hachiko?" Shiki recalled. "When he came out, no one noticed, obviously."

Neku nodded in agreement. "Let's check every statue, every picture, anything we can. There has to be Noise around here somewhere, and the mission said they were hiding after all."

~***~

Princess K was satisfied. It had taken much longer than the Russian Players had liked, but finally Veronika was dressed up in the finest clothes Lapin Angelique had to offer.

Accepting their money, a very pleased Princess K let the kids out of her store.

"You look great," snickered Ivan. Veronika shot him a look.

"Shut it, Ivan. Let's go find that perverted Reaper that wouldn't let us through until I got this crap on."

They only had to walk a short way before they found the porcupine haired, blonde rock Reaper with his silver earrings.

He broke into laughter at Veronika's clothes and expression.

"Well I didn't think you'd actually put them on." He said after a moment.

"What?" Veronika asked in confusion. "That was the mission, the requirement, right?"

"If you _knew_ Shibuya, you would have known to take that back path over there. Save you some trouble." 777 said, gesturing to a dark alley that the Russian Players hadn't even noticed.

Veronika lunged for the Reaper and immediately had Noise called on her, just like he had planned, and just like Ivan had thought would happen.

~***~

Shiki soon found out that Neku had been right. The Noise were posing as any animals they could. From dogs to cats, birds, reptiles. Anything at all. It was only with their Player Pins that they could draw them out, or sometimes they were forced to rub at statues or figurines to coax the creatures forward.

Then started the real trouble. Shiki had once accidentally brought a Noise lion out of a Chronicles of Narnia poster and she almost had a heart attack, screaming and recoiling back from it as it pounced at her, claws unsheathed, until she got her bearings and knocked it aside.

She lost count of how many Noise they flushed out from their hiding places, and she thought it a miracle that no one noticed or even turned a head. There was one little boy that she swore saw her, but maybe that was because she had backed too close to a decal.

The Timer was running dangerously low. It reminded her of the terror of fighting the great bat with Neku in her Week, but this time Beat and Rhyme couldn't bail them out…

Shiki threw all of her remaining energy into another attack so a Fusion could happen. Neku unleashed Mr. Mew's wrath on the poor Noise, and only when the Timer read three seconds in dull violet letters did they actually leave the realm.

She dropped, exhausted, on the ground. They had been fighting Noise almost nonstop since they entered GUM and she didn't think she could so much as twitch Mr. Mew at the moment.

Neku helped her to her feet, and their Timers had luckily vanished.

Shiki asked, "Neku, do you think they're _trying_ to tire us out?"

"It's working," came the reply.

They rested for a few seconds before stepping into a fast food place--McDonald's--to eat. Their money had once again changed shaped and they paid no attention, counting out what a handy chart just for tourists said was the right amount before sitting down to eat.

It was part of the mission structure they found out. Rest, however brief, was mandatory. At least the Angels were a _little_ fair.

Neku was silent, as was Shiki for the most part. She was too busy gazing around at every fashion statement, every store, and every archway that she could see, trying to soak in as much as she possibly could of the scenery.

Their phones rang for the dreaded Game Master encounter, and Neku read it aloud, quietly. "_'Return to the Red Square to battle the Game Master there. You have two hours. Fail and lose points. The RoM.'_"

Tossing their trash, the friends left the Department Store quickly, emerging back into the UG and the Red Square. It was as crowded as ever, but also apparently very cold, because everyone was huddled in their jackets and winter coats. The sky was a threatening dark gray, almost black, but that might have been because the sun was setting. A scrawny and tattered raven croaked and poked halfheartedly at a food wrapping.

The absence of Harrier Reapers disturbed Shiki to no end. She guessed it might have been them that placed the Noise in the area, and hid the creatures in the store beforehand. But now they had to get ready for their Game Master battle, so she pushed the thought out of her mind.

She was comforted, just a little, by the lack of the growling voice in her head. It was almost like Neku kept it at bay. She squeezed his fingers in hers, and he looked at her in surprise before smiling slightly.

"We can do this," he said calmly.

"I know."

Reassured, they faced the Game Master together, the only person looking directly at them.

He was a thin, but strongly built man. He had a mop of long, stringy brown hair that was graying in some places, brooding green eyes and a confident expression. His clothes were simple, loose khaki pants and a yellow turtleneck sweater. The neck section was drawn up as far as it could go, covering the bottom part of his mouth. Regardless, he spoke, his wings concealed at the moment.

"Welcome, Players." He greeted. "You have done well to make it so far. I expected nothing else from the Composer's Proxy and his Partner of choice."

Neku growled; no doubt they had noticed him using Joshua's Dissonance Pin, it only had two charges left for this Game.

"I understand why he picked you, of course. Strong, intelligent, determined…why you picked her…"

"Doesn't matter, let's just start the fight." Neku interrupted.

The man continued calmly, "No, no…I see why you picked her. Only her looks, right? She obviously can't fight."

Shiki bristled, and in her ears she thought she heard something hissing.

"Never mind. My name is Artem…Let's get this over with." Artem suddenly spread his wings from behind his back. They reached for the sky, great dark yellow things with ridges as sharp as knives. He folded them to his body, and tattoos, black and amber ones, dug into his skin. His frame convulsed and then he opened his arms.

Four pairs of arms…

Shiki felt herself switch to the other dimension, and she settled herself into a combat stance. She was rejuvenated from the brief rest and the food, and ready for anything, she thought.

Facing her was a monstrous Noise spider. It had long, thin hooks on the edges of its black limbs and its main body was a ragged brown. Red eyes looked at her and it scuttled forward, claws digging into the ground, shooting webs from its back and lifting into the air.

Surprised, Shiki whirled around and looked up, seeing it was hanging by a red graffiti net. It launched itself down at her from the arch it was clinging to, and Shiki dodged before firing Mr. Mew at its head.

Artem growled but bulled through it, clinging onto her and biting with his pincers. Shiki twisted and screamed, kicking and fruitlessly bouncing Mr. Mew on the spider's head.

Cantus Araneus finally pulled back, and Shiki was glad that the spider wasn't poisonous. Just the memory of Luigi's venom made her body hurt.

She put some more effort into trying to rack up Fusion Stars, tossing the light puck back to Neku, since he had thrown it to her so she could chase Artem away.

Artem wasn't finished however, and he returned, swinging down on his web. She fought to knock him away, but Shiki once again wouldn't kid herself.

She wasn't the greatest fighter, that she knew. She just hoped it wouldn't be her downfall.

The spider's web was insanely sticky, and she tried to pull herself out, only to get her hands and feet stuck in it. The spider was wrapping her up even more, and she gasped, Mr. Mew moving of his own accord. Glowing brightly, he snapped the webs that connected her to the spider and she managed to break free.

Artem cried out and thrashed wildly, and she took that moment to attack him herself, thinking Neku had probably used his Dissonance Pin. The spider was up in only a few moments, moving quickly, he started weaving another web around her before summoning Noise symbols.

They came down in swarms, dropping off half dozen weasels, two turtles, a raven, and a frog. She searched frantically for a rabbit, but reassured there wasn't any there, she focused on the turtles. Shiki used them like projectiles in their shells, sending them flying into the other Noise.

A raven tried to scratch her back, but some sixth sense made Shiki turned around and decimate it. At that moment the turtle shell she had been using hit her, and she landed on her back.

She suddenly remembered the sticker Joshua had given her.

Shiki knew if this wasn't an emergency, nothing was. She looked around and noticed a statue nearby. Scrambling to her feet and knocking some of the pursuing Noise away, she brought the statue of a man riding a horse to life.

The drain was immense. She almost lost consciousness. She knelt down, using the statue as cover, and tried to rest. Mr. Mew continued to attack, and she got back to her feet as Neku suddenly used the Healing Pin, the Golden Cross.

_"Neku, you shouldn't have used it yet!"_ She scolded, though she was secretly relieved.

That was their last charge, after all.

_"I felt it, you were doing terrible."_ He answered.

Well, it was true. She felt much better now, more rejuvenated. She leaped up and continued to combat the Noise over one of the largest Noise realms she had ever fought in. They chased her across the Red Square, with the spider busily weaving another web.

Shiki gasped as abruptly a wolf Noise sank its teeth into Mr. Mew. The pain was inexplicably terrible. She could barely think, it was like someone had grabbed something deep inside of her and stabbed her to her very core. She twisted, red filling her vision, before forcing her fingers to move and launching her precious doll back into her arms.

Luckily he was unharmed.

Mr. Mew retaliated viciously, tearing the wolf in two. Shiki smiled with some satisfaction before killing the last weasel with the statue under her control. The horseman was much harder to bend to her will then Mr. Mew, and she dismissed it after the chump Noise were gone. It returned to its original position, a bronze monolith.

Artem had changed a portion of his landscape into a labyrinth of webs during her fight with the regular Noise that Shiki had to tread through carefully. She kept all of her senses alert for any sign of the spider, and it was like any light was steadily being blocked out the farther she went into the red nets he created. But she couldn't play the waiting game; they only had thirty five minutes left.

Shiki was only dimly aware of what Neku was doing; she was giving all of her attention to the task at hand. Was that a spider? Was that just a shadow? Where was he?

Her question was answered when the spider dropped down from the shadows above and suddenly grabbed her. She struggled wildly, but Artem pulled her up, out of the range of Mr. Mew, and pulled harder and harder, his needle legs constricting her chest and limbs before--

~***~

Neku felt like someone was choking him. He gasped, going down on one knee, and that's when he heard Shiki's voice in his head. Weak. Afraid.

_"Neku, I'm sorry."_

His eyes widened as he felt her heartbeat suddenly stop.

Silence.

Artem spiraled to the ground from his hidden perch on the ceiling, but Neku was unfazed, clicking his Dissonance Pin. The special white energy, on its final charge for the Game, slammed into the spider and knocked it into its own webs. But Neku knew that he could no longer hurt the spider; only the energy ignored the rules of the Noise realms. Now he was defenseless.

That didn't matter.

Shiki was gone. He'd said he would never let anything bad happen to her. He said he'd protect her, that they could do this. He had promised to get them all home safely.

But no. No, not anymore. They had lost. Now what? But that didn't matter…Shiki was gone.

Erased.

Erased like Rhyme but she wouldn't come back. _She wasn't supposed to be able to get Erased in the Tournament!_

The Angels had obviously told a lie. Joshua too, if he had known.

Tears. They ran down his face. She was _gone_. He knew this just as surely as Shiki's heartbeat no longer thumped in harmony with his. Her Music was even gone from the stream of it.

"_What the hell?! Why did you do it? Why her?" _Neku shouted at Artem, who had been watching silently, still a spider.

The spider said, "All for her."

"For--"Neku suddenly understood. That girl…what was her name? Rosalie? She said Shiki wouldn't…

She was going to die. Rosalie would die. He was going to do it himself.

"Why would you--"He began heatedly.

"Hang on, Phones. We'll handle this."

Neku turned and saw a little girl with big green eyes and blonde curls standing beside Mr. Hanekoma. Mr. Hanekoma approached Artem and trapped him in some sort of white feather barrier, the girl, the Producer of Moscow, trotted over to him.

She also waved her hand, and Artem's webs suddenly vanished. They were back in the Red Square. The girl said, "My name is Anne. I'm…sorry. I don't know what he was…" She trembled visibly, and he knew she was telling the truth. Anne had nothing to do with this. "I'll try to figure it out, I swear." She promised.

"What about Shiki?" Neku asked hoarsely, head still lowered.

Anne hesitated. "I don't know. I'll have to ask Boris--our Composer—to see what he can do, what the Angels will let us do."

Neku jerked his head down in a nod before trying to fight back his choking sobs. Anne patted him on the shoulder before going to talk to the adamantly silent Artem, whom Mr. H was interrogating for information. Why would he purposely kill Shiki, Shiki in particular?

Too deep in his grief for Shiki, Neku didn't hear the Noise behind him. It sprang, and he felt claws scrape his already painfully sore back, which had been aching all day.

He whirled around, standing up, but felt no rush into the Noise realms. Facing him was a bristling Noise with brown fur, cat ears…

He stared harder. It was like a brown Mr. Mew, but its arms weren't made from cotton and cloth. It was made from bands of strong fibers, multicolored, like strands one would use to sew. The claws weren't tattoo strands either; they were like needles, sewing needles…

The tail was rainbow also, made from three thick rainbow strings that glowed brightly, swathed in a light that made it appear thicker. The Noise wasn't much bigger than Mr. Mew, but its eyes were red.

Neku knew without a doubt. He didn't even have to scan the Music.

"Shiki?" He asked quietly. He was surprised when the cat leaped at him and he grimaced, feeling the claws, but still there was no sensation of a Noise realm battle initiating. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held still, kneeling down and clenching his teeth against the pain.

After a while he just started saying Shiki's name over and over, saying it was him, and she had to stop, whatever was the matter with her. He wondered if Beat had gone through this with Rhyme when she had first been summoned, or if it was some sort of ailment only Shiki suffered.

Shiki suddenly stopped thrashing, and he held her at arm's length. Her eyes were once again chocolate brown, and her tail and claws hung limp. She didn't speak, just like Rhyme, but he also sensed that intelligence in her gaze that Rhyme had had.

"Shiki…" Neku held her again and she wrapped her arms around him. Neku saw, through his tears, strange white shapes that he realized was, in fact, snow. The clouds were dropping their burden at last.

"Impossible," said the soft voice of Anne behind him. Neku turned around, with Shiki still tight in his arms.

"Not impossible when it comes to Josh," Mr. Hanekoma sighed. "I bet I know what's going on." He flicked his fingers and Neku and Shiki felt themselves warped away to the Angel Palace.

~***~

Eri barely saw anything through her tears, and she shoved Beat away, who had been trying to comfort her, waiting furiously for the flash of--

There they were. Before Neku was even fully clear of the white he felt someone slap him so hard it sent him wheeling. He turned around and saw Eri, bristling angrily. He imagined he saw, just for a few tense seconds, the glare of something white behind her, brighter than the ivory walls of the palace.

"Y-Y-Y-You were supposed to protect her! Oh my God! Shiki's dead and it's all my fault and--"Eri started crying again, and she knelt down, covering her face with her hands and sobbing. Strangely, she felt like this wasn't the first time she had mourned her--

That was right. This wasn't the first time Shiki had died. And it was her fault again!

"Eri, calm down. It's nothing to worry over." Joshua sighed.

She whirled around and glared through tear filmed eyes at the Composer, whom was smiling calmly, no trace of sorrow in his gaze.

Anger like she had never _known_ filled her entire being, and she jabbed a finger at Joshua, snarling, "Listen here you--oh!"

Suddenly, at the same moment she pointed at him, a streak of bright rainbow radiance appeared in midair, and in the exact motion she had done, slashed across Joshua's arm.

The Composer was speechless, for once, or maybe that was because he was too busy smirking. On his arm was a black mark, and he looked at it amusedly. "Well, we found your psyche. You see, that's the problem." He grinned. "Most people, when they die, went through enough trauma or whatever you prefer to gain their psyche. Emotional stress, with a few exceptions. It seems it took your friend's passing to trigger your own."

"That's _bull_," Eri said hotly. "Is that all you care about, you inhuman son of a bi--"

"Careful, you're turning in Neku." Joshua giggled.

Rhyme snapped unexpectedly, "Shut it, Joshua! Oh, Shiki…she's…"

Joshua stared at Rhyme, as did everyone else, in surprise. For the first time, Eri _did_ see something in the Composer's violet eyes. But it wasn't sorrow.

"She's here." Neku pointed to the brown cat on his shoulder.

"How?" Beat gasped. "I mean, ya know, Rhyme had a Pin and--"

Joshua interrupted with, "I know. I gave Shiki a Sticker you see, to control her psyche better. Well, I assume she moved her Soul and Imagination into Neku before she died, over their Pact. She's summoned herself from inside of Neku."

Neku stared, wide eyed.

"The only way to bring her back, Neku, is if you gain enough control over yourself, and enough power, to give her life once more. I would do it, but it's immensely complicated, and it'd be much simpler for the actual person with the problem to do," Joshua explained.

Rhyme said weakly, "Do we lose?"

"Artem has lost massive points for killing Shiki, and Uzuki succeeded in beating the Russian Players. So actually, no. We're still in the running. No more losses, however. I doubt we'll be so…fortunate again." Joshua replied uneasily since he sensed Neku's glare.

Neku surprised everyone by saying nothing, he just sat down on the floor and held Shiki tighter, and the brown Noise cat soon felt not only Neku's hands on her ears, but Eri's as well. Then Rhyme and Beat were hugging her, and everyone was silent as they made an invisible but very real promise.

They would win, if only for her.

~***~

**_Two Games twice in a row is bad luck. That's what will be said after this Tournament is over by the Angels. XD_**

**_Ah I rather disliked writing this chapter, as Shiki is my favorite character. Anyway, yes for those who are bound to ask, the Angels were lying when they said one could not be Erased during the Tournament. It would result in a rather complicated problem for the regular non-Tournament Players of the UG if the Harriers or Game Masters couldn't Erase them._**

**_Shiki's Noise design is from my friend, Rita Arira, so credit to her. I did not invent that._**

**_For anyone wanting to know, Beat and Rhyme are next, and Eri and Neku perform the last "city Game" of the City Week before the three part challenge from the Angels intitates._**

**_Thank you to every single one of my reviewers, I read all of them. I only had a goal of fifty reviews for this story, so I'm so glad to have gotten that number and more. I appreciate your patience._**

**_Next City: Sydney_**


	8. Day Six: Resolve

**Chapter Seven: Shibuya VS Sydney**

_Day Six: Resolve_

Rhyme felt it, the sort of….energy lack in the air since Shiki became a Noise. She could sympathize, having had been a Noise herself. As often as she could, she went to see Neku and Shiki, petting her ears or talking to her. But Shiki never responded, though her facial expression would change and she would nod and shake her head vigorously. Otherwise Rhyme sat to the side with Beat.

Eri was leaning against the wall, always as near her best friend as she could, and Neku never argued when she wanted to embrace Shiki. Rhyme was struck silent for a moment by the resemblance. Seeing Eri holding Shiki, looking so like an amber furred Mr. Mew, it was almost like seeing Shiki for the first time in the Game.

A flash of radiance flicked off of Eri's fingers as she experimented with her psyche that she dubbed, "Imagine That". She could bend the rainbow energy into a bunch of different shapes, and it scorched the Noise on contact. But it was difficult to control, and she struggled to get the rhythm of it down before her Game with Neku.

Luckily, she had time to practice. Next Game would be Rhyme's and Beat's. A small prickle of guilt made her stomach twist. If she and Beat had gone to the Moscow Game instead, Shiki would still be alive.

Rhyme turned her head, watching Joshua drift off to the stairs, alone again. She got up from her position on the floor and followed. Beat was too busy watching Eri anxiously to notice, because the pink haired girl's eyes were dark. No one had moved from the large white meeting room since Neku showed up with Shiki in his arms. The commotion with Eri had drawn many curious stares, and Reapers and Angels alike began murmuring about how strange Eri's psyche was, while also commenting on Shiki's unwarranted Erasure. Rosalie was currently being investigated, or so Mr. Hanekoma had told Joshua.

Climbing the stairs quietly after her best friend, Rhyme watched as Joshua glanced back at her, and then kept walking, hands in his pockets.

They cleared the stairs and entered the long ivory hallway that housed the Shibuya Players' rooms. Of course, one would be empty from now on…Shiki would probably sleep with Neku. If she was calling her Noise out of him, she couldn't drift far.

"Rhyme, dearest, do you need something?" Joshua dragged his nails through his ashen hair, and immediately Rhyme's eyes narrowed. He always flicked his hair, _always_, and Rhyme, being the observant girl she was, also noticed the stiff set of his shoulders.

She walked in front of him, brushing her own blonde locks from her blue eyes, stopping to face him. "Joshua…you don't have anything to do with Shiki, do you?"

Joshua smiled. "Of course not. What would I have to gain by Erasing one of my best Players?"

Rhyme stepped closer to him, peering into his violet eyes, and he grinned down at her. "Promise?" She asked quietly.

If it was anyone _other_ than Rhyme, he would have replied instantly. But it wasn't. And Joshua's hesitation, though very brief, didn't pass the sharp-eyed girl.

"You did something to Shiki?!" Rhyme had to struggle to keep the panic from her tone, her smile vanishing.

Joshua waved his hand and started walking again, but Rhyme grabbed his hand. She was startled when a burst of white energy almost knocked her off her feet, but it did leave a black burn on her palm. She gripped it with her uninjured one, fingers curling around the seared flesh. She looked up, trying to keep her tears back, because this hurt more emotionally than physically.

Joshua was facing her, eyes cold, and his purple gaze followed her even when she ran down the stairs, feeling betrayed by the Composer. It was only after she had escaped his sight that his eyes flashed with pain at what he had just did.

Pushed one of his few friends farther away.

~***~

"Morning" came to the Angel Palace, but Rhyme didn't feel like getting up to meet it. Regardless, reciting a few adages in her head, Rhyme got what needed to be done completed. She descended the stairs slowly, humming to herself a song whose words she had forgotten.

The white meeting room was already packed, but the Shibuya Players were in the usual position in a corner. Neku had Shiki on his shoulder, and the Noise cat had her claws set lightly in his hair, brown eyes peering back and forth. Eri was close by, still toying with her rainbow psyche. Rhyme saw Joshua, and though he looked at her, she turned her eyes quickly away and sat next to Beat, who was beside Eri, slumped against the wall.

"Yo, second to last Game." He greeted her, ruffling her hair. But he, too, was unusually somber. Rhyme smiled, for everyone else's sake.

"Yeah, we can do this. No problem."

Shiki bobbed her head, and Neku just glowered at the floor. Eri said nothing, and Rhyme sighed. She jumped in surprise when Joshua suddenly took her hand—when had he gotten beside her?—and pressed his fingers to her burnt skin.

She tried her best to glare, but Rhyme wasn't a glaring person. Instead she just watched him silently as, without taking his eyes from hers, he healed the injury. "I'll talk about it with you later," he promised.

An apology, the best you would get from Joshua. Rhyme shrugged and nodded, and Joshua went to stand beside Neku again as the Angel appeared in the air once more.

_"We greet the next Day, one of the last, with congratulations for the two teams in the lead so far."_

Rhyme pricked her ears, listening for the names from the gray cloaked Angel with the feminine voice.

_"In first place, for the moment, is the Los Angeles team. Jason, Rose, Blake, Walter, and Sam. Special thanks are also due to their Composer, Vienna."_

Like everyone else in the room, she looked around for the American Players, but there was no way to pick them out from the crowd.

"Vienna," Joshua murmured. "I've heard of her."

Rhyme looked at him, but he only shook his head.

_"The second team is comprised of the Players from Shibuya. Neku, Shiki Daisukenojo, Raimu, and Eri, along with their Composer, Yoshiya." _The Angel continued, her heavenly tones echoing like ethereal chimes. Beat groaned at the use of his full name and buried his face in his hands, ears red.

Whispers unexpectedly erupted from the room at Joshua's complete name; with Reapers throwing looks Joshua's way. Joshua gave a languid wave of his hand, smiling.

"Those good or bad mutters, yo?" Beat asked the Composer.

Joshua shrugged. "I'd imagine a mixture of both."

_"With that done, we begin the next round. Hold your Player Pins aloft, we begin in one minute."_ The Angel disappeared in a radiant flash, and Rhyme had to shield her eyes.

"Is she special?" Rhyme asked Joshua, standing up and holding her Player Pin in her newly healed hand.

"Hmm?" The Composer had his arms crossed and only just now lifted his eyes up.

"That Angel that just spoke. She disappeared differently."

"You noticed? Yes, she is. She's a higher level being, respected among the HG Angels."

"Don't matter at all, Rhyme! We'll kick this Game right outta the park! No problem!" Beat was pumped up suddenly, ready for another shot after the defeat they had suffered from the Cantus Sphinx back in Cairo. It seemed like ages ago that they had gone out.

"Of course!" Rhyme waved good bye to everyone right as the white light tossed her and her brother into the air.

They landed softly, and the change, though expected, was still disorienting. Rhyme narrowed her eyes and gave a hard look at everything around her.

To her left, sparkling a breathtaking blue, was a deep stretch of water. It was speckled with white boats that drifted aimlessly, and the sun created a dazzling shimmer of gold. To her right, a huge city spread away towards the horizon. The buildings were mostly tall skyscrapers and spires that were ivory and silver, cream and gray. Cars shone harshly as they reflected the light, and green vegetation existed in irregular patterns amongst the structures from Rhyme's bird's eye view.

_Bird's eye view?_ She just then realized she and Beat were standing on a tall, thin building of white stone and super reflective windows like dark gleaming mirrors. A hot wind blew from the east, and the sun continued to glare off of every reflective surface, dazzling her.

"Where's the mission mail?" Beat said beside her, also peering at the city below them. He had one hand gripping his shoulder, blue eyes narrowed.

Their phones shrieked into life, and Rhyme answered her own phone while Beat waited for her to read it.

"_'Reach the bottom of the very building on which you stand. Can you move from the sky to the land? The time limit is one hour; can you descend from the tower? Faithfully yours, the Sydney Reapers.'_" Rhyme blinked. "Sydney…Sydney…"

The timers branded their hands again, but they ignored it. "Australia!" Her brother said suddenly.

"Huh?" Rhyme was surprised. "Beat, you're right! Sydney, Australia!" She looked around. "How do we get off? I don't see any stairs, but these antennas," she gestured to the structures on the roof, which seemed like spindly metal branches. "Had to get up here somehow."

"I let you off," said a voice behind them. Beat and Rhyme turned around just as man with sandy brown hair kicked Beat in the stomach.

Startled, Beat clawed the air and started to plummet. Rhyme grabbed her telekinesis Pin, throwing the surprised man off the building after Beat. She then leaned over as far as she dared and wrapped Beat in the same energy, tightening the invisible tendrils around his chest. The building was astonishingly tall, and Rhyme felt sweat break out across her forehead. She strained backwards, feeling Beat's weight tug her towards the edge. The ground seemed awfully far away.

_Not Beat, not again, please! _Rhyme pleaded silently. She pulled back once more, her fingers straining as she exercised the Pin's psyche to its maximum point. Her eyes were closed tightly.

Meanwhile, the Reaper had extended his wings and set Noise symbols after Rhyme before falling slowly to the ground and vanishing. Beat was using the windows as ledges, scaling the wall quickly with Rhyme hauling him up. Once he was certain he was close enough to call out to her, Beat hollered, "Rhyme, quit it, will ya?"

"Huh?" She faltered, the energy flickering fitfully.

"Yo, I can get down this way! Just let me climb down slowly, and keep that…telekinesis thing on me!" Beat called back.

Rhyme nodded as understanding dawned. "Okay!"

Gently, like an invisible rope, she eased Beat downward until he was on the ground, the Australian pedestrians meandering around and through him. Rhyme knew how she could get down, and Beat wouldn't like it one bit. After checking the Timer—thirty nine minutes left—Rhyme stepped back from the edge and tested her theory with her hat. She removed the beanie and dropped it off the ledge. Down it spiraled, and she used the Pin again to slow its fall. It took a little while, but instead of trying to stop gravity and hold it in midair, Rhyme found it didn't take nearly as much energy to just slow the fall instead of pulling it up.

Beat realized what she was going to do a moment before she launched herself off the edge without a backwards glance, blonde hair falling around her face and eyes.

~***~

"Pay _attention._" Neku snapped. Shiki lightly scratched his hand, and he shot her a guilty glance.

"Don't yell at me, Neku Sakuraba." Eri sniffed. "I'm trying, I really am." She closed her eyes and pulled her psyche out from within her, sending the crackling, multihued energy forward. Neku sidestepped it and retaliated with a burst of fire.

They were in a special room of the Angel Palace that allowed Pin use, newly opened. Apparently the altercations needed to use certain powers outside of the Noise realms were more complicated than the Angels had thought.

Joshua wasn't paying attention, he was sitting in a white chair in the corner of the—(you guessed it)-- white room. He was examining his phone, giggling to himself slightly.

_Rhyme, that's a smart idea._ He watched from the omnipresent view of the camera on the cellular device as she controlled her fall with the power of the telekinesis Pin. Beat was screaming and frantic below her, scrambling every which way. But she remained calm, and before she even landed, her brother had reached up and grabbed her in a bear hug, squeezing her tightly while slipping her hat back on her head.

Joshua glanced up briefly, surprised to see Shiki watching him, eyes narrowed.

"Rhyme's lucky to have her brother, and vice versa." Joshua said to her. Shiki nodded briefly before turning around and walking off.

~***~

Rhyme wriggled out of Beat's grip, laughing and looking at her hand. The Timer was gone, for now.

"Don't ever do that again," Beat growled. She nodded. She wouldn't. The descent had been _terrifying._

Their phones rang again, and Rhyme clicked hers open once more. "_'Reach Port Jackson, Sydney Harbor, by the water. There prepare for Noise slaughter. Three hours to rid the area of the Noise, try to perform with grace and poise. Faithfully yours, the Sydney Reapers.'_"

"What's with the whack rhymin', yo?" Beat grumbled. His eyes cut from side to side. "Where's the harbor?"

Remembering the view from the skyscraper, Rhyme said, "That way. It opened out to the water over there, and if I remember correctly…"

"Aight, yeah I get ya! The World Geo class we took said it was filled with little islands!"

"That's right. Let's go!"

Rhyme and Beat broke into a brisk run, Rhyme leading the way. They ran through the crowded city, pointing things out to one another on the way. The poles were decorated with bright ribbons, they were celebrating something. What, exactly, she didn't know.

Weaving through the streets, they knew they were headed the right way when they saw a dark haired Reaper in a red hoodie. He watched them as they approached, and Rhyme grabbed Beat's arm so he wouldn't stalk straight into the barrier.

"Hey, Players. Obviously you want to cross this wall here." He pointed. "Then answer this riddle!"

"You've _got_ to be joking, yo! Real men don't stand 'round answerin' riddles!" Beat growled.

The dark haired Reaper raised his eyebrows. "Oh ho! Don't we? What about you, little missy? Don't want to answer riddles?"

"I don't mind…" Rhyme muttered. She thought it infinitely preferable than fighting hordes of Noise, which was one alternative the Support Reaper might take.

"Alright. What word can be written forward, backward, or upside down, and can still be read left to right?" The Reaper looked smug behind his mane of matted black locks.

"Um…" Beat scratched his neck, staring at the sky. "Um….ah…."

The Reaper raised his eyebrows.

"Uh…." Beat continued, looking around. "This is crap, yo. Why is this even important…?"

Rhyme pressed her hand to her temple, rubbing at the skin, thinking hard. Unexpectedly, her phone rang. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, flipping it open.

A message from Joshua. It read, _Honestly, dearest, I thought it was rather obvious. Backwards, forwards, upside down? It's NOON. Good luck._

She couldn't help it, Rhyme smiled. She lifted her head, closing the phone and tucking it inside her pocket. "Noon."

"Cheater," snorted the Reaper. "Whatever. I'm bored and hungry; if it wasn't for you I'd be standing here listening to him say 'um'." He pointed an accusing finger at her brother, as if it was his fault he was starving and tired.

Beat stamped his foot and growled again, but the Reaper cleared the wall and vanished into the crowds.

"Let's go, we've got two hours and thirty minutes!" Rhyme and Beat set off once more, plunging through the dizzying maze of Sydney. Rhyme tried to remember how the city was set up from the view from the tower, and prayed she was heading the right way.

~***~

Martin, a brown haired, mousy boy that was a Substitute from Sydney, was nervously trailing behind Leticia. The girl had golden brown hair with a variety of shades the color of autumn, and her eyes were the same. He had had a crush on her since fifth grade, and could barely form words around her.

Kariya was watching them from the rooftops, Uzuki beside him.

"I hate waiting," Uzuki whined, slumping against the wall.

"They've got to do missions before you can get them, girl. Just be patient." Kariya chided. He had a lollipop in his mouth like usual, eyes bright behind their glasses.

"No fun though. Not at all. 777 will have more fun than me." Uzuki stretched and folded her arms behind her head. "Oh well, I can wait. I'm not worried at all."

"No way of knowing if that kid down there is the Proxy or not, just be careful. That French Player messed up Sho pretty badly." Kariya cautioned.

"Hmm. Yeah. Alright. What idiot Composer would pick mouse boy down there?" She pointed one clawed finger at Martin, whom had just passed their lookout on the building.

"Could be an act. No way of knowing for sure."

Uzuki shrugged. "I'm not losing to any of them," she said stubbornly.

"Aight girl, aight. But if you need savin', I've got orders not to risk my behind for you until the last Game. Though if Sho is playing the last Game, I don't know if—"

"He's not worth saving," Uzuki said irritably. "And this _is_ my last Tournament Game, Composer told me so." She pouted slightly.

"Hey, hey, you snagged the job you wanted once all of this clears up!" Kariya reminded her, removing the lollipop from his mouth.

"True." Smiling, Uzuki watched like a hawk as the Australian Players drifted toward their destination: 104. "Of course I still owe you ramen for life."

~***~

Rhyme skidded to a halt, her breath taken away.

They were on one side of a great dark steel bridge, with stone support beams gilded with orange lights. The water underneath lapped at the structure, and cars zoomed across the Harbor Bridge. It was like watching thick spider webs mesh together to form the overpass. Beyond that, more pale buildings resided, clustered together. Oranges, yellows, creams, whites, grays. It was beautiful, with the water all around them, stretching as far as she could see, dotted with islands of varying size. Boats sped past them, and Rhyme knew that they had reached the right area. This was Sydney Harbor.

While she was busy gawking, Beat had tried calling the purple Noise symbols to them, shaped like crocodile jaws.

"Hey! What th' hell?!"

"Huh?" Rhyme whirled around, pulling her hair from her eyes. "What? Where?!"

"The Noise! They ain't comin'!" Beat complained.

Rhyme scanned the area and felt the presence of the Noise symbols. But when she tried to call them, they didn't react. "Now what?" She sighed. "Let's try going to them."

Her guess was right. None of the Noise symbols were over water, though they were scatted across the Harbor. Once they were within arm's reach, the Noise emblems would finally react to their calls. Rhyme felt herself launch into the other dimension, and she twisted to fight her foes.

Three Noise were creeping toward her, two white seagulls with beaks like daggers and a crocodile that was all green tattoo bands and jagged fangs. Rhyme pulled a street lamp from the ground and slammed it into the croc. It stumbled backwards, hissing, and Rhyme quickly retaliated with a stream of silver bullets and then a flash of green and blue boomerangs.

The bullets caught one seagull and knocked it back, the boomerang missed the first time around before catching the other seagull in the back of the head.

Rhyme felt Beat quickly building up energy, but she was going to let it reach its maximum point before she did anything. The crocodile almost snapped her leg, but she pulled back just in time, calling more bullets to strike it in its scaly face.

One seagull exploded on her right, the other Rhyme took out with a well aimed slice to the face. The crocodile was all that was left, and the pair of them made short work of it between them. There was no need for a Fusion, but Rhyme activated it anyway, knowing that the energy would be gone the moment they left the battle to find another purple Noise sigil. A latticework of chains broke through the twin dimensions and tore apart the crocodile, sending the hunter green Noise skidding backwards on its thick tail. It exploded in a cloud of gray particles and she returned to Beat's side.

Wasting no time, they scanned for more of the purple symbols and went hunting for them. There were seven in total, and they still had two hours to get them. They dropped a variety of creatures, from bronze jaguars to violet snakes, purple hippos and ferocious silver badgers.

The badgers were omens of the rabbit Noise, which Rhyme had heard about from Neku. She kept a careful eye on them, watching for the transparent white shadows that they guarded. Rhyme twisted and leaped, dodged and kicked, hurtling cars and sending boomerangs and other things after their tribal forms. The Noise came in what appeared to be endless swarms, but Beat was unstoppable, as was Rhyme, and the pair was glad when the last seagull Noise dropped onto the ground in a blast of static.

Rhyme stumbled slightly, grimacing, bleeding from a dozen different cuts across her chest, arms, legs, and hands. The wounds weren't serious, luckily, and she pulled her sleeves down quickly before Beat could freak out over them and insist that she use the Golden Cross Pin. Beat wasn't hurt nearly as bad as she was, but he had more experience, she supposed.

"Timer's gone," Rhyme noted. _At last._

"Huh yeah it is…" Beat shifted slightly, winding his fist up, stretching the tired muscles. His skateboard was shoved back in its bag. "Yo, Rhyme…what were ya doin', followin' prissy boy earlier?"

So he _had_ seen, but had trusted Joshua enough to let her go see him. Rhyme wondered if Beat knew more than he ever said. "I think he had something to do with Shiki's 'death'."

"Did he? Do ya know?" Beat's dark blue eyes became even more shadowy, narrowed to stormy slits.

"No." Rhyme lied. She didn't want to tell him for some reason that Joshua had confirmed her suspicions when he burned her hand. He was hiding something.

Their phones rang, and Rhyme answered it as Beat studied her silently, hand on his shoulder. She read, "_'Perform the sacred art of Reaper Creeping on a sailor down in the port. Prepare for more questions from the Reaper Support. You have one hour, hurry you must. To fail after coming so far would be grossly unjust. Faithfully yours, the Sydney Reapers.'_"

"Reaper what?" Beat said after a moment. She knew she hadn't yet completely escaped his suspicion.

"Reaper Creeper. That's what their talking about."

"Oh yeah, that weird game where we move the Pins with tele-something?" Beat shrugged. "Some sailor down in th' port? There's a crap load of those things down there, yo!"

"I'm sure he won't be too hard to find, or she." Rhyme promised. She crossed her arms, eyes narrowed. "Predictable though, to use Support R—"

"Bwaa! Look, there ya go again!" Beat recoiled, obviously seeing another trait from Joshua.

Rhyme quickly uncrossed her arms and started walking, smiling to herself. "Oh c'mon Beat, we've got work to do! We can't afford to mess up any more missions!"

"You're right." Beat agreed, heading after her down the road. They crossed the Harbor Bridge and went down to the edges of the landscape, where the white and gray beaches began and the boats were docked.

They split up as far as they dared, in case a Harrier sent Noise after them. Rhyme looked around, reading minds and searching for any signs that someone was preparing to ask the "Reapers" for help and guidance. However it was Beat that found the right path, and she ran to his side.

Impossibly, or maybe quite possible, the same dark haired barrier Reaper was standing by the shield. He gave a silly grin through his curtain of black bangs. "Well looky here! The Noise didn't Erase you!"

Rhyme raised her eyebrows. "More riddles?"

"Certainly so."

"Get on wit' it then! We on a time limit, yo, in case you ain't noticed." Beat complained.

"Keep your baggy pants on," said the dark haired Reaper with a grin. "Now quiet whilst I think or I'll call Gavin and Isabella instead to sick Noise on you." He rubbed his chin. "Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?"

Rhyme dipped her head, thinking. _What's red then black when you scratch the head?_

Beat broke into raucous laughter. "Wow even I get that one!" He covered his face and tried to stop his guffaws, eyes shut tight as he struggled to rein in his amusement.

The dark haired Reaper snorted in disbelief. "You have no idea what it is, do you?"

"Nah, nah, I know, yo!" Beat straightened up with an effort. "A match."

Rhyme was surprised, and started to giggle, when the Reaper's eyes widened and he stood there, slack jawed, all confidence gone.

"How did you…?" He asked weakly.

"Obvious, ain't it? Matches have a red head…and uh…" Beat rubbed his neck, looking up again. "You…scratch it, and it catches fire. But ya blow it out, and it's black. Look, it was th' first thing that came to mind. Jus' open the wall."

The Reaper did as he was told without argument. "Wall clear." The barrier collapsed like a crystalline curtain, and he vanished again into the crowds, still stunned.

Rhyme jumped up and threw her arms around Beat's neck. "Excellent work!"

"Um…yeah, you're welcome. Let's head on out!" Beat strode off again with Rhyme right behind. They entered another small dock system where boats bobbed in the water. Men, and a handful of women, tugged at the pale amber ropes strung onto their vessels, tying some in place and loosening others.

Rhyme scanned and found the object of their search, a young man with blonde hair that was kept flat under a white baseball cap. He was lounging on a brown crate, the Reaper Creeper board set up before him.

"Oh man…will this actually work? Is this witchcraft or something? Well, mate, there's only one way to find out." He swallowed nervously, his tanned throat bobbing with the action. "Reaper…Creeper…should I tell my girlfriend I want to marry her?"

Beat stepped aside so Rhyme could slowly move the little coin, gently tugging it towards the positive, "yes" section.

"Oh! It's moving!" He exclaimed. "Is it…it is! Yes! I'll listen to you, Reaper old mate! I'm off to tell Adriana I love her!" With that he turned and marched proudly away after collecting the pieces.

"I woulda said no, guy looks like a nutcase." Beat joked with a grin. Rhyme giggled and sighed in relief as their Timer vanished, which had read fifteen minutes.

"Next mission should be the Game Master." Rhyme observed as they turned and headed back for the bridge, visible over the water like some great metal guardian.

"Ain't nothing we can't handle, yo!" Beat said confidently.

Rhyme hummed in agreement, walking close to Beat. Remembering what Neku had said about the Angels requiring rest time for the Players, she took Beat to a café not far from the waterside. There they ate some ice cream and gazed out at the endless water that Rhyme didn't remember if it was a river or the ocean. That didn't change the fact that it was large and blue and beautiful. Purring and crashing against the shores like a living creature…

"Yo, Rhyme, what's that word?"

Rhyme started, turning her head and was surprised when she saw Beat had his phone out. She must have missed the mission mail. Taking his phone, she read, "_'We come now to the ultimatum.'_" That was the word he had had trouble with. "_'We come now to the ultimatum, the decider of fates. Come to the great black bridge where I await. You have the rest of the time to take me down, I whose strength is world renowned. The best of luck, the Sydney Reapers.'_"

"Good manners, huh, Beat?" Rhyme said with a smile, handing her brother back his phone. He pocketed it and shrugged indifferently.

"Manners don't matter none in Shibuya. Let's give them a Beat down, Rhyme!" Beat started for the Harbor Bridge with Rhyme following.

Unexpectedly, her shoulders and back started hurting. Rhyme paused, rubbing briefly at the ache, and decided it must have been from the fights they had had earlier with the purple Noise sigils. She still had two charges on the Golden Cross Pin, they wouldn't lose this time.

The Harbor Bridge's lights were on, and the sun was beginning to sink, almost entirely swallowed by the water which it turned blood red. The clouds had their bellies turned bronze and orange, and the night swept in on silent wings to claim the sky. Birds lifted into the air as people milled around the water, and Rhyme watched as boats drifted close together, preparing for something.

Waiting on the bridge, ignoring the cars that passed through her, Rhyme saw a Reaper. It was a young woman with long dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. She had a pleasant enough smile, and white clothes on that were spotlessly clean. She watched them as they approached.

"You wish us to proceed instantly into the fighting? I'm sure this will be sufficiently exciting. My name is Destiny, just so you know, and what happens next just goes to show…" Her eyes changed to a vibrant yellow as gray Reaper wings exploded from her back. "You can't outrun the wind, those that have sinned."

The tattoos covered her body, golden and gray, and then Rhyme felt Beat vanish as a great Noise bird reared up above her. She clacked her beak, looking like a hawk of some sort, and Rhyme knew it was a hunting seabird, an ocean falcon.

Cantus Ossifrage, "Singing Osprey", lifted into the air and soared toward the sky, screeching, her beak and claws made of twisting tattoo bands. Destiny wasted no time in attacking, swooping down and attempting to plunge her talons into Rhyme's neck. She dodged and fired some bullets into Destiny's chest, and the osprey pulled back, shrieking, and swooped away. She returned in a flash of golden brown, slim wings beating, attempting to buffet Rhyme off her feet. Rhyme tossed a car at her, and that stopped the attack, for the moment at least.

Meanwhile, Beat was using his skateboard to block the attacks, swinging the weapon whenever he saw an opening. Destiny didn't want to get too close to Beat, whose strength was well known amongst the UG residents. She dropped down in a spiral and, hissing, tried to rake her claws over his face. Beat blocked, and then retaliated with a blow so powerful that she was sent crashing into the wall.

Rhyme rolled to the side, barely avoiding a stabbing beak. Destiny said nothing besides wordless cries, beating her wings again. This time a powerful wind stirred, and Rhyme was knocked off the bridge and into the water.

She gasped, plunging into the lukewarm substance. She didn't honestly know if she was being affected by the water or not, she was too shocked to do anything besides kick her legs and swim for the glittering white surface as particles shifted wildly with her movements.

It appeared the water wasn't wet, but even her UG self registered it as a mass, similar to how she acknowledged that the ground was solid, or she saw the rain but it didn't actually make her clothes damp. She struggled onto the beach, gasping as talons sliced into her flesh. The osprey lifted into the air, but Rhyme turned and flung a crate at her. Destiny was hit hard, and her wing buckled as she collapsed. She ran to the golden brown and gray osprey, throwing more crates from the dock and anything else at hand towards the bird. The Game Master thrashed wildly, surging upward in a spray of white sand. Destiny then jerked her beak towards Rhyme, but the girl stepped back swiftly. Firing three boomerangs, Rhyme struck Cantus Ossifrage in the chest and wing. The first boomerang tore some of the bands on the wing, the other two collided with her head, and Destiny fell backwards.

At that moment, Beat, who had been blocking dozens of hits, trying to get a blow in himself, succeeded in swiping his board down and crushing the feet of the osprey. Destiny screeched in pain, and at that moment he struck upwards and broke her beak clean off with a snarl of fury. The piece spiraled away and vanished before hitting the ground in gray spirals.

Rhyme then seized the opportunity that had opened up, since Destiny was stunned, and fired some more bullets into her face and one actually found its way down into her throat.

Destiny's body convulsed and she spread her good wing and knocked Rhyme off her feet. The stunned girl sprawled in the sand, seeing stars, and then she saw the light burst from the osprey's body.

The static roared upward, flying toward the sky and being carried away by the warm wind until it vanished from sight. Rhyme was dizzy from the force of the blow, and she barely noticed the transition into the UG, away from the Noise planes.

Beat spotted her from the bridge and ran down to her side, helping her to her feet. Rhyme clicked the Golden Cross Pin, and as the warm energy swept through her body, she felt her mind clear.

Then, to her stunned amazement, fireworks exploded around her. Remembering the ribbons on the poles, and the crowds, she realized it must be some sort of holiday.

They were like glowing flowers, blossoming in the sky in fantastic colors. Bronze, gold, silver, blue, red, green, pink, purple, white. So many colors that she lost count, reflecting off the now black water as the sun vanished into the hungry sea.

Beat said nothing, neither did she, as they listened to the thoughts of the crowd and the happy celebrations going on around them. Rhyme wondered if Destiny was okay, because she didn't show up afterwards like the other GMs had. She soon completely forgot about the Australian Game Master, all her thoughts directed towards a single firework that lifted into the air.

It made a whizzing sound, a sort of whistle, and when it burst, it was the most spectacular shade of amethyst…

~***~

Uzuki clawed the ground, snorting irritably. She would be damned if these Australian punks beat her. She lunged forward; catching the girl in her jaws, but in doing so switched her direct attention away from the boy.

Martin struck out with his sword psyche, ripping into Uzuki's side. The wound burned like fury, and she thrashed, lashing out with her claws, twisting in the air and diving like a hawk on her prey.

But the boy wasn't there.

She turned to fire some bullets from her jaws, but the boy was gone again, behind her. The sword stabbed into her flank, and while she concentrated on Martin, she was giving less of her attention to her mirror self.

Uzuki slashed at the air, struggling to catch the boy. He was much, much stronger and tougher than he had looked. The mousy haired Martin was dancing around her, dodging her blows, striking at her face, muzzle, chest, legs. Leticia, the girl, was attacking with Pins that were raising hell in the other dimension. Earthquakes, firestorms, you name it.

The weasel was having trouble dealing with both at once, and when their Fusion, a decimating blast of elements laced with glowing swords, was unleashed, it did her in. She collapsed on her side, barely hanging on to consciousness. She struggled to her paws, seeing Martin and Leticia running at her, and she snarled halfheartedly, too tired to be angry.

Then…

A burst of orange suddenly sailed in, ginger, white, and black. The creature stood in front of her, and Uzuki craned her head, growling irritably. Who was that?

Martin skidded to a stop, and in her dual vision, she saw Leticia had also. The fox neatly sidestepped the blow from the sword, and then brought nine tails, ginger and ivory, crashing down as sharp as spikes on the boy's back. Martin thrashed wildly, and he gave a cry of pain as orange fire cascaded onto his head. Leticia had also tried to send a chunk of earth at the fox, but the fox teleported behind her and slashed with its tails. The creature looked utterly bored, but its eyes were watching everything closely.

That's when Uzuki saw the black jacket with the skull emblem. Kariya had used their one Intervention…for her. Against Joshua's orders.

Kariya suddenly went on the offensive, and his attacks were savage. Martin's sword was knocked from his hand, and Leticia was tossed clear across the battle arena Uzuki had chosen, the area outside the Shibuya River. Kariya then surged forward, fast as lightning, and tore his teeth into Leticia's chest, shaking his head like a dog worrying a bone before tossing her aside. At the same time he had encircled his tails around Martin and immolated him with more foxfire.

The battle was over that fast. Even though Uzuki had weakened the kids, it was still clear that as Conductor, Kariya was frighteningly powerful. And yet he disliked fighting.

Kariya watched as Mr. H stepped into the Noise planes to interrupt the fight, checking their injuries to see if any needed to be healed immediately, or if they were just stunned.

"That was amazing, Kariya!" Uzuki wheezed, falling over. In that same moment her tattoos left her, and she had to be helped to her feet by one of Kariya's tails. The fox was still bored looking, and even as she watched, one tail unwrapped a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth.

The sight was so comical, a fox sucking a lollipop that she broke into laughter.

Kariya flicked his ears, in a flash turning back to his normal self. "Composer won't be happy. _Most_ people are waiting to use Intervention on the last Game."

"I know. But thanks, Kariya…I mean it." Uzuki said to him.

Kariya only raised his eyebrows. "Seeing you get your rear handed to you…wasn't pretty, girl."

Uzuki huffed but didn't reply.

~***~

Joshua was pleased when Rhyme returned with Beat, proudly showing the Sydney Pin that depicted the bridge over the harbor.

"Excellent work, Rhyme, Beat. Might want to give Neku the Pins from the cities you defeated." He said.

Confused, Rhyme did as she was told. Neku accepted them wordlessly; though Shiki craned her head down to examine them.

"One more Game!" Eri celebrated with a cheery grin.

"One more Game," Neku agreed.

Rhyme looked at Joshua. "When will you talk to me about the…" She asked quietly.

"Later, dear." Joshua murmured. "Get some rest first."

Rhyme nodded, mostly to herself, and after saying good night to everyone with the excuse that she was tired, though in reality she wasn't, Rhyme climbed the stairs to her room to think over everything.

Strangely, though, she found her back was hurting furiously…

~***~

**_Can Beat and Rhyme do Fusions? James brought this up and I really don't know..._**

**_The Golden Cross Pin is the only healing Pin accepted into the Tournament, to clear things up a bit. It has only so much charges per Game. There is only a single exception in some of the shielding Pins._**

**_The Los Angeles Team and its Players mentioned above are not mine. They belong to RawkstarVienna, and will have a sizable role later on. Thanks for letting me use your characters!_**

**_Anyway. I appreciate you guys staying here to read this fiction! It's way...way...way...long. And the fact that it takes me so long to update, but with school, my dad coming home from Iraq (finally), and my other stories, it was hard to get to this. But here it is! If I'm taking too long, feel free to PM me with death threats. =)_**

**_A very special thanks to all of my reviewers! I mean it. Thanks. Feel free to ask questions and I'll get to it as soon as possible._**

**_Anyone here know Jaunea? She writes the Joshyme fic "A Trip To Remember" along with several other stories? She's a good friend of mine that basically co-wrote the next chapter. XD_**

**_Next Chapter: Vancouver_**


	9. Day Seven: Cantus Felis

**Chapter Eight: Shibuya VS Vancouver**

_Day Seven: Cantus Felis_

Neku awoke with the sensation on his back, the burning, increased tenfold.

"Crap," he moaned, rubbing at his spine. He had almost forgotten Shiki was there, the Noise cat had lifted her head and was now looking at him strangely, a bemused expression on her face.

"Nothing, my back just….really hurts…" Sitting up, Neku groaned again, rubbing at his head. Shiki sighed and dropped her muzzle on his leg. He absentmindedly stroked her head, the fur short but soft, and tried to ignore the burning.

Suddenly, something else drew both his and Shiki's attention instantly. A crashing boom echoed in the corridor, it sounded like a door had been thrown off its hinges and into the wall. A strange screech tore through the air, and Shiki stiffened, her fur suddenly fluffed out.

"What?" Neku asked her anxiously. She sat up, turning her head, and pointed her claws to the door. He had tried scanning her, but her thoughts never showed up. Lately it had been hard to get into the state needed to touch the Music, but he tried again. Closing his eyes tightly, attempting to block out all things, Neku dove into the Music as the ice coated his body.

The sounds were chaotic. The melody from the first time was jumbled into a violent din, each screeching against one another. Shiki's thoughts were almost impossible to pick out, but he understood what she was saying.

Shiki had heard that sound before, the animal cry.

Standing up quickly and taking Shiki on his shoulders, Neku opened the door cautiously, Pins in hand. He was right, one door was blown off its—

"That's Eri's door!" Neku said in a low whisper. "Damn, how did she—"

"Bwaa! Phones, get the hell in here!"

Neku went to go find Beat, and he recoiled with a gasp as he saw Beat holding a pink squirrel with red tattoo claws.

Rhyme.

"What the hell?!" Just when Neku thought he couldn't take much more of this so quickly, he stood there slack jawed as a huge Noise rat, golden, raced by with a snarl, turning a bend in the corridors and out of sight. Behind it came a Noise dog, large and humanoid as Konishi's tiger had been, with tan tribal markings that shimmered gently.

"This is…what…What?!" Neku didn't even know what to do, and the burning and pain from his back and shoulders wasn't helping one damn bit. Beat growled in agreement, just as confused as Neku was. The friends exchanged bewildered looks.

"Ah crap Phones, where's prissy boy?" Beat said at last. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need his help."

Neku didn't know where Joshua was, and he was too frazzled to concentrate properly and scan the Music. Shiki was tugging on his collar uneasily, her brown eyes wide. He knew what she was asking. Where was Eri?

The corridors were echoing with an assortment of yowls and shrieks and voices crying out in desperation. Neku led the way with Beat behind him, and their Noise friends were perched on their shoulders. They headed down the steps and into the main meeting center, with the great white room and its domed ceilings.

Inside was pandemonium.

Noise of uncountable types was surging around the room. Dogs, cats, bears, birds, reptiles, and even a humongous frog that leaped so high that when it landed, the entire ground shook, attracting the attention of the other Noise. They then started fighting the Players and the other Noise in the area, biting and clawing.

Neku turned as he saw Sol, the Mexican boy from their first visit to the Palace, bolting after the golden rat. "Yazmin!" He shouted, dark eyes desperate.

"Yazmin…wasn't that his friend? Partner?" Neku murmured. "Wait. Those Noise," he was shocked. "Are PLAYERS?!"

Beat snapped, "Obviously, Phones! Enough of this! How do we fix it, yo?!"

Neku retorted just as heatedly, "Shut it, I'm thinking!" He closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath, struggling to regain the icy feeling so he could peer into the Music. When the sensation grudgingly returned, he searched through the tumult for Eri's familiar Song, because he had made a mental note to memorize everyone's specific melody earlier.

He found it, but it was a roaring tempest of discord that he hardly recognized. Opening his eyes, Neku said, "Eri's this way!"

The duo raced across the room, dodging other Players and the confused and violent Noise that were battling in the room. Beat slammed his board into a coyote's face, and it froze comically in midair before collapsing, earning the older Bito sibling a glare from Felice.

There was a brief gap in the crowd, and Neku saw Eri leaning in the corner, trembling, her eyes closed. He ran to her with Beat on his heels, shoving aside a mouse haired boy frozen in fear. "Eri!"

"Neku?" She opened her eyes and looked at him, and then her gaze flicked to Shiki. "Shiki! I'm so sorry, this is my fault…"

Shiki's head shook quickly but Eri didn't seem to be listening.

"My fault, my fault." She repeated. "I should have been more helpful, I should have offered to take your place. Poor Shiki trapped in her cat form…" She was rambling now, her eyes unseeing. "She got Erased…or maybe that _was Neku's fault for not helping her_!" Suddenly Eri bristled and her eyes narrowed, and as they watched, her eyes dilated and red filled her vision. "Your fault," she hissed.

"I know," Neku surprised them by saying tiredly. Shiki continued to disagree but no one was really watching.

"Yo, Eri, calm down." Beat touched her shoulder gently. "Same thing happened to me wit' Rhyme. It'll work out, Phones will—"

She suddenly twisted and pulled away, and as they watched her entire frame started shaking. Eri's eyes narrowed and snaking bands of graffiti lines circled her arms and legs, almost like she had gotten tattoos. She let out a small cry, arching her back, and black wings spread wide and hung in the air, quivering.

A tail, pearly white, dropped down between her legs and in a burst of wild, uncontrolled energy, she transformed. When the light cleared a tall, bipedal ivory cat with flashing bands of rainbow stripes that matched Shiki's was standing in front of them. She knelt down, and ignoring Beat's curses, sprang with a wild snarl.

Neku countered instinctively, but it was only when he knocked aside Eri with a blow of compressed wind energy did he realize…

They weren't in the Noise realms, but the psyches were working.

"Ah crap, Josh where are you?" Neku groaned.

Eri screeched again and slashed out at them, and they saw her rainbow psyche streak the air. Beat barely blocked in time, and then he struck out and knocked her upside the head.

"Yo Eri! Snap th' hell outta this, we don't got time for none of this crap!"

She was dazed, and she blinked, her eyes clearing briefly before fogging up again. Neku sensed Shiki's distress, and Rhyme was tugging on Beat's hat.

Without thinking, Neku plunged into the Music once more, drawing the glacial sensation so heavily across his skin that he almost felt like he was being frozen again. He then spoke directly to Eri.

_"Wake up, Eri! Fight the Noise! You're hurting us!"_

He sensed a turmoil of churning thoughts and pain. Then, a weary voice.

_"…Neku…?"_

_"Listen to me. Don't let the Noise take over."_

_"But Shiki—"_

_"She's fine! She's alive! And we're going to win this God damn Tournament, or so help me I will kill every frickin' Angel in this corrupt place until we can bring her back! Killing us isn't going to help, so break out of it and control yourself!"_

_"It's too strong…"_ Eri whined, sounding beaten and tired.

_"Fight it, Eri! I'm right here; Beat is too, along with Rhyme and Shiki. Try."_

_"Don't go, Neku. And I'll try. Promise."_ She sounded desperate for anyone to hang around.

_"I'm here."_

~***~  
Higher up in the Angel Palace, so far away that no vibrations or other sounds reached the ears of the ethereal beings within, Joshua was pacing the square room lined with featureless white flowers, devoid of precise petals like weather beaten statues.

Shibuya's only Composer paused, his violet eyes flicking to the side as a strange shape seemingly appeared from nowhere and approached him. It was a dolphin, ocean blue with its tail and dorsal fin made of light green tattoo bands. It swam through the air gracefully, ducking and flying and weaving around the pillars elegantly.

"Done showing off?" Joshua inquired. The dolphin paused, its face slack in a sort of amusing surprise. It smiled then, and there was a flash of watery light, like the kind dancing on the seafloor, before a girl emerged.

She had light brown hair that fell to her waist, sapphire blue eyes, and a young, round face with a ridiculously happy smile on it. She skipped over the rest of the way, and the Shibuya Composer heaved a sigh.

"So, when was the last time we spoke? A decade or two?"

The girl tilted her head to the side, and then smiled again. "Twelve years. The 'incident', 'member?"

Joshua did indeed, a meeting about the Game, adjusting some rules after several loopholes was found. Of course he wasn't the one to have found them. Or so he kept saying.

"Anyway, what are you here for now?" Joshua said casually, eyeing the girl that was almost older than him.

Melena shrugged. "What are _you_ here for? Are you participating in the Tournament?"

Joshua smirked. "Of course I am, dear. What about you?"

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "I was goin' to, but Nicholas had to drop out last minute."

"Isn't he your Proxy?"

She giggled. "Something of the sort."

Joshua pretended he didn't know what she was talking about. Melena was Composer of Portland, Oregon, and Nicholas was one of her closest friends. Instead he said with a faint hint of a growl, "I'm here to find Rosalie."

The smile vanished from Melena's face, and instead she frowned slightly. "Rosalie? Seattle's Composer?"

"The very same. It appears she's manipulated Artem, the Russian Game Master, into killing one of my Players."

She grimaced in return. "That's terrible. I've met her before; she's the strongest neighboring Composer, next to me."

"Hmm," said Joshua indifferently. "I've called a meeting, sent a message through the Music."

"Only Angels should do that," Melena replied, though she didn't sound bothered or surprised by the news. "You've already got a big target on your—"

"Yes, I do, don't I?" Joshua looked pleased. "Anyway, they'll be here very soon. I don't think Rosalie will be happy to hear she's actually done me a favor."

Melena looked at him strangely. "A favor?" She said skeptically. "For killing your Proxy's best partner."

"Certainly."

Flashes of light erupted around the room, and through the glare and noise, Melena was the only one to hear Joshua laugh. It sent goosebumpss down her arms.

~***~

Eri lurched forward, then retreated, and stumbled around. It almost looked like she was simultaneously trying to attack and trying to run away. Neku's fists were clenched at his side, his body rigid, as he coaxed the Noise girl through the process.

He could tell Eri was close to turning back to normal, and his assumptions were proven correct when tattoos abruptly retreated from the white, rainbow frame of the cat and coiled to her back. There they transformed into black, ivory, and multicolored Reaper wings that shivered visibly. Eri slumped over and Beat ran forward to catch her.

"Eri, yo, you all right?! You gotta be all right!" He said desperately. Her pink hair was covering her face, but when she shifted and lifted her head, her eyes were clear.

"What the hell…?" She mumbled, gripping Beat's shirt. Her nails were as sharp as claws before they shrank back to normal, but only Beat missed this.

Shiki tugged at Neku's hair, then jumped off and crouched near Eri. Her friend stroked the Noise cat's ears before closing her eyes and leaning back. "We've even got a Game today. My first."

"And Joshua wants me to go, and you _have_ to." Neku replied.

"Yeah…" She sounded terrified at the thought.

Much of the area around them was still in chaos, and the Shibuya Players decided to go back to their rooms. Neku wasn't willing to dive into the Music to help every single one of the Players-turned-Noise, and he said, "There should be Proxies here besides me," in response to Rhyme's disapproving look.

What surprised him the most was, when crossing the battlefield of Noise Players and their friends desperately trying to reign in the tribal style animals, the Angel appeared in the air like nothing was happening and addressed everyone present. Somehow her voice wasn't drowned out by the cacophony of screeches and shrieks.

_"Those wishing to participate in the final Game of the Tournament should now remove their Player Pins from their various pouches."_ The limp figure stirred slightly as if she was considering lifting her hooded head, or maybe it had been in reaction to the monstrous frog that had bounced not two feet away from her face. _"We begin in one minute."_

When she vanished in a bolt of golden energy that left behind a trail of yellow sparks, Neku quickly flipped his Player Pin and scanned the room. He didn't know what he expected to find, but it was mostly out of curiosity.

The Players-turned-Noise still had shielded thoughts—but he felt a strange aura around them, just like the Noise symbols that drifted about the air. He wondered if it was possible to "pull" them like any other Noise and initiate a chain battle. Deciding there was really nothing he could do, since there didn't appear to any Composers in the white room and he wasn't about to drain his strength by helping everyone, he dismissed the scan.

Eri hesitantly took her Player Pin out, and Neku eyed her wings curiously. She seemed unaware that they shifted constantly with every movement she performed. Shaking his head, the Proxy said, "Beat."

Beat grunted and looked away from Rhyme. "Whaddup, Phones?"

"Take Rhyme and go up to the rooms. It'd be safer than hanging out here."

The older Bito sibling nodded, and with squirrel Rhyme on his shoulder, exited via the flight of stairs. Shiki shifted uncomfortably on Neku's shoulder, waving her rainbow tail, but didn't make any movement to follow them.

The light swept down on the trio, engulfing them in a myriad of colors that shone with a shimmering, translucent quality, like a pearl. Neku felt Shiki tighten her claws, and he let out a deep sigh.

_We have to win—for everyone. For this madness to stop._

~***~

Eri tentatively opened her eyes and looked around. She felt reassured by Neku's stoic presence, and the familiar feeling of Shiki—unchanged even in her current state—and she forced herself to try and take in the sights around her.

She didn't recognize anything in specific, no special landmarks that would give away exactly where she was. However she still felt a bit awed by the beautiful city in front of her, as different from Shibuya as night and day. The city, as if guarded by nature, was enclosed within mountains, evergreens covering the slopes with a hint of snow on top.

Eri turned behind her and saw a large river dotted with small white specks here and there—boats. The vessels traversed the stretch of water on delicate sails and powerful engines, and the surface of the tributary was the color of ash due to the light gray clouds that covered the sky overhead. At that moment, the sun deigned to shine through the covering and struck the surface of the water, turning it a greenish shade, like an emerald gem.

Most of the buildings, she noticed, were gray, silver, light tan, or white. A couple of buildings in the busiest part of the city seemed to have pale green roofs—the effect of aging copper. The structures reached varying heights, and one rose above them all, covered in glassy mirrors. She could have sworn it scratched the underside of a low hanging cloud. A few buildings were domed with a small spike jutting from the top.

The other thing she noticed was the _greenery._ Shibuya was so urbanized, so industrialized, that it seemed the entire place was composed of pure metal. Here, wherever they were, placed in between buildings in large or small fields, stretches of grass stubbornly persevered even in the harshest of city landscape. Trees sprung from anywhere they could grow, alders and conifers and maples, amongst other things she couldn't give a name to. They were like frozen fireworks, trapping bright green, red, orange, and yellow close to the earth, though this was a rare occurrence, for most of the natural skyscrapers were evergreens. It seemed nature wasn't eager to give up its footing here. A black squirrel scurried right past her shoe, and Eri watched as it leaped into a tree and disappeared.

An invisible wind she couldn't feel shook the trees, sending down a spiraling cascade of leaves from the non-needle bearing trees. One passed right through her, causing a shiver, and she silently watched its progress. Eri couldn't help but feel, wherever they were; it was like the polar opposite of Shibuya.

Then their phones rang.

Neku whipped his out before she had even reached for her own, and Eri decided to let him read it. "_'Welcome to Vancouver. Reach Stanley Park. You have two hours. Fail and face the loss of points. The Reapers.'_"

"Where _exactly_ are we?" Eri said, confused. She wasn't great at geography.

"Judging by the Olympic flyers, Vancouver...Canada." Neku replied.

At that moment a stinging pain raced across her hand and Eri yelped, rubbing at the burning flesh. It cooled off quickly, but every few seconds a small pulse of heat rippled across her skin. A reminder of the time. She stared at her hand uneasily, watching the Timer proceed on its merry way as it counted down, and then she nodded resolutely. "We need to ask directions, right?"

"Yeah," growled Neku. "There must be a store with a Reaper decal around here somewhere. We can't become solid without one."

"I know," Eri muttered. She wasn't totally ignorant of the Game. Joshua had told her all about it. They looked around at the streets, and then Neku set off, cutting through the traffic by choosing to walk through a short field instead. Somehow his sharp eyes had picked out the graffiti decal—seemingly no different from the one used in Shibuya—hidden in the shadows of a convenience store. He pushed open the light brown, wooden door, which let them in with a cheery ring, and glanced around.

The RG transition was so smooth that she barely felt it, but Eri was still a little disconcerted by everything going on. The shop was neat, with white tile floors and rows of junk food on the shelves. Drinks rested in the coolers and the sliding glass door compartments that lined the walls, and candy was arranged in tidy columns.

The three people in the store—two boys and an elderly lady—didn't even look up as they entered. Behind the counter, a young man with a brown goatee and partially smoothed back hair looked at them with a bored expression. "Can I help you?" he drawled.

"Do you know where Stanley Park is?" Eri understood the words leaving her lips, quite strangely, but she remembered not to dwell on the odd fact that she couldn't speak English.

The man adjusted his black vest, blinked once, and then nodded. "Yeah, it borders downtown. You can't possibly miss it, eh? If you can't spot a variable _forest_ you must be denser than a rock."

Neku rolled his eyes. "Thanks. Let's go, Eri." She made to follow him, but the man stopped them again.

"Oh, be careful, alright?" He looked at them shrewdly, and she had a feeling he knew about the Game. "Vancouver can be a dangerous place. Though it's not likely." He snorted with amusement and went back to scanning his magazine.

Neku and Eri departed the shop, and at that moment it occurred to the girl that Shiki must have been invisible in the RG. "So Noise don't go into the RG?" She asked Neku curiously.

As they headed downtown on the gently sloping road, the Proxy briefly looked at her from behind his spiky mane of orange hair. "That's right. A monster cat would probably freak people out just a little bit," he added dryly. Shiki playfully popped him on the head, waving her tail in silent mirth.

Eri laughed a bit but her insides twisted as she saw Shiki in her current state. She shoved it from her mind, lest she call the wrath of her Noise form again, and sprinted after Neku. They were weaving down the streets, passing through people and observing the signs and buildings that rose around them, when Eri spotted a white garbed man standing strangely still. She then saw someone pass through him as if he was smoke.

"Neku!" She called, gesturing to the man. He paused, glanced back, and then approached the Reaper. The Reaper's white hood was strangely reminiscent of the Angels, though crisscrossed with golden lines. He shifted slightly then lifted his eyes, and they realized it wasn't a Reaper. Reapers didn't have pale glowing eyes.

"Want past this wall?" His voice echoed strangely. "Then defeat the Noise here in a three part chain battle."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Neku's voice was flat but his eyes were slightly apprehensive.

The Angel-like Reaper only smirked. "Time's a-wasting, kid."

With an uncaring shrug Neku flipped his Player Pin, and Eri realized she was about to fight her first serious Noise battle. At that moment she realized that her wings had vanished—when had that happened?—but before she could think any more about it, a pink light swept her away from Neku.

The Noise realms were slightly foreboding, with strange shifts in the atmosphere, like heat waves on a hot day. The monsters didn't appear immediately, but after a few shared heartbeats between her and Neku, the emblems—shaped roughly birdlike—deposited unceremoniously onto the earth their charges. The first thing she saw was a big brown beaver with a tattoo tail the color of ivory and white claws. It blinked and snarled, lunging toward her, and she sidestepped neatly before snapping her rainbow psyche like a whip and striking the back of the Noise. It left a blackened stain on its amber pelt, and the beast slammed its tail on the ground in retribution.

The shockwave was unexpected and caused Eri to lose her footing, she clenched her teeth and recovered quickly, just in time to feel the claws of a falcon strike her shoulder. She bent her psyche into a ball like shape and bounced it. It struck the blue bird from the air and then rebounded, swiftly colliding with the beaver's snout and snapping several bands with a hissing sound.

Breathing quickly, she dodged the Noise and reacted fast enough to strike a slinking wolf on its legs, tripping it up and sending its face into the cement. The battle wasn't as difficult as she had thought it'd be, but she still got some little cuts and scrapes from the vicious creatures intent on…what did the Noise want?

_"You holding up?"_ Neku's voice unexpectedly broke into her battle reverie and she blinked, bringing her rainbow streak to a temporary stop. The nearest Noise, a battered and beaten bear, hadn't yet scrambled back to its massive paws.

_"I'm doing fine."_ _It's for Shiki_, she added silently to herself. She'd be _damned_ if she failed her friend. With narrowed eyes she finished off the bear and Neku must have gotten the squawking, strutting, silvery chicken that had been attempting to terrorize her since the start of their third round, because it exploded with a comical cluck into a blur of peppery static.

The Angel-like Reaper looked at them calmly as they emerged, a little worn out but nowhere near defeated. He then raised a hand and said, "Wall clear!"

The crystalline, invisible barricade collapsed in on itself with a sound like shattering glass, and the white hooded man departed without a backwards glance into the crowds.

"Let's get going," Neku said and Eri wordlessly followed.

~***~

Joshua smirked, gazing at Rosalie as she glared at him from roughly two feet away. The black haired, tawny eyed Composer of Seattle spoke through clenched teeth.

"You have no _proof_, Joshua! None!"

Unfazed by the annoyed and curious stares from the other Composers and Angels in the strange white chamber, he smiled and toyed with his cell phone, though his eyes never once left Rosalie's face. "Oh? No proof at all?"

"This is ridiculous; I bet everyone knows this is your pathetic attempt for revenge, all because of that one meeting where I convinced everyone to outlaw those Voltage Tumult Pins!"

He had honestly forgotten about a trivial thing like that—but apparently his "enemies" held on to any small victory they could. Still, it was a loss in his case he supposed, so Joshua let his face become smooth and expressionless. "Rosalie, I 'interrogated' Artem."

She scoffed, but Joshua had years and years experience when it came to reading eyes—he remembered Rhyme saying they were the gateway to the soul—and he saw a flicker of unease color the ginger orbs darkly. Joshua usually would beat around the bush for a good twenty minutes, hoping to get his foes angry enough to say something stupid, but he knew he was on dangerous ground anyway. Luckily, the Angels had a habit of putting up with his "upstart antics" for reasons he didn't exactly know. The hooded beings of almost pure energy were polite even when angry, but that charade made them more dangerous than any Reaper.

"Hehehe." Joshua smiled.

Rosalie, and everyone present that knew him, paled. Melena whispered quietly to someone behind him, "She is _so_ screwed now!"

Joshua smirked. "I did a little research. It appears your specialty as a Player was psychokinesis and telekinesis, dealings with the mind. You could levitate objects and other such things…"

"Your point?" snapped the Seattle Composer.

Unbothered, the "teen" continued. "Well, you manipulated Artem and bent him to your will. I broke your control."

Rosalie was silent for heartbeat too long, eyes narrowed, but when she spoke her voice was contemptuous. "Prove I did anything! You can't accuse me unjustly!"

"But Yoshiya rarely accuses anyone. This would be the second time in how many years?" An Angel, silvery robed and levitating above the mass of silent, scrutinizing Composers peeked from under her hood, pink eyes bright, like fireworks.

"And he was right," added an African Composer.

"Exactly." Joshua replied, and with a click of his phone, called the Russian Game Master into the room. The Reaper was limp and battered looking, and he cast pleading eyes toward his Producer, Anne, and though she shifted, the girl made no effort to help him. "After some work, Sanae and I managed to figure out exactly who it was that had done it. Artem, Rosalie sought you out before the Game began and apparently wanted to talk, correct?"

"Yes," he muttered.

"She made eye contact and while speaking, you said you felt…odd?" Joshua waved his hand.

"Yeah, yeah!" Artem seemed to recall everything a little better now, and he straightened up. "I felt weird and then she told me…she said…" He screwed his dark eyes up in concentration. "She said I should eliminate one of the Shibuya Players, but I didn't question her at the time!" He glowered at Rosalie. "I'm a powerful Reaper, but even I can't fight a Composer."

The watching Angel was silent until the masses of spectators had silenced themselves, and then she addressed Artem. "Are you certain you speak the truth?" When he nodded, she continued, "Then allow me to cleanse your system of any foreign power, and check for traces of it as well."

Artem hesitated but agreed, and the Angel descended silently, placing her glowing hand on his forehead. The process lasted about three seconds, but the Reaper's expression blanched slightly. When she withdrew, the Angel turned to Joshua. "I have to check your mind too, Yoshiya, in case this is a trick of yours. Your duplicity and cunning exceeds whatever more positive traits are buried inside you."

Joshua tensed slightly. The Angels could do a dangerous scan more powerful than any Player Pin, capable of reading _past_ thoughts as well as the present ones, depending how long they performed the ritual. He consented, but carefully bent his own psyche to protect areas that he didn't think the Angel needed to see.

Notorious for his ability to defy an Angel's Scan, Joshua was both respected and feared for his power. This he knew by the Angel's wariness as she touched his forehead, and he kept very still as he felt her alien consciousness brush his thoughts. While in so close a bond, he knew she was a little uneasy, and this made him smirk just a tiny bit.

However his guards were unnecessary. Unlike most of the Angels—which he suspected weren't as perfect as they acted—this lower ranking being didn't quite dare to intrude on his more personal matters and only glanced over the process with Artem. She pulled back with some relief evident in her ethereal voice and intoned, "He speaks the truth."

What amused Joshua the most was that no one seemed surprised. Rosalie's eyes twitched and then she suddenly gave a wordless screech and fired a burst of bluish energy from the palm of her hand.

Joshua sidestepped.

The force caused an explosion behind him, and one of the pillars shattered into four huge white chunks that sent a flurry of dust particles into the air. The room became deathly quiet, and Rosalie suddenly shifted. In a burst of teal, a massive raven Noise with orange eyes reared up and struck with a tattooed beak at the Composer. Joshua kept his hands in his pockets and sidestepped every attack, and in her rage, Rosalie couldn't control her moves properly and thus each jab was clumsy, though the effort behind it left dents in the floor. She reared up, ready to strike with her claws, bluish gray wings extended overhead, when Joshua became a white blur and counterattacked faster than she could see.

The huge pillar of white energy that struck her head sent Rosalie down onto the ivory floor, and in another blink Joshua was standing calmly in front of her. He knelt down and said into the dazed girl's ear so that only she could hear, "Temper, temper."

Then in a silvery glow, both Rosalie and the Angel were gone.

~***~

Eri looked around at Stanley Park. It was a mass of forest far larger than any she had been to outside of Shibuya—(that was rare as it was)—and the trees crowded together on the skyline, broken only by the towers of Vancouver not far away. There were trails that wounded their dizzying way through the woods, while various lakes of varying sizes dotted the landscape. Swans and ducks drifted across the water while other animals such as raccoons peeked down from their places in the branches. The sky above had cleared from a stormy gray to a bright blue; for it seemed the tempest that had been threatening to release a shower of rain all day had moved on to terrorize some other place.

She and Neku were utterly perplexed, because after arriving in Stanley Park after clearing another simple Noise Erasure mission; they had been given a mission to "Identify the Invader." Apparently the Invader was "a fiend that inhabits the area unnaturally." Instead of hunting for said Invader, they only had to figure out its identity. The Game Master himself would appear to hear their answer, or so the mail had said. They had been given roughly an hour and a half.

"Not a very typical mission." Neku growled crossly. Shiki agreed with a small sigh. "But the Angels don't allow botched missions, so this must be doable…somehow."

Eri hummed in agreement, crossing her arms and brushing her pink hair behind her ears. She found her mind wandering, seeing that she and Neku were dressed far differently than the Canadians present…

_Get a hold of yourself! You can look at fashion when your best friend's life isn't on the line!_

She observed the landscape some more and after a moment, she addressed Neku. "See that building there?"

He glanced at it; a rather uninteresting brown wood structure that seemed to have been either standing there since the beginning of time, or could have possibly been made yesterday. "Yeah?"

"Let's check it out." Eri suggested, gesturing for him to follow. "That sign says it's a sort of…ecology house."

Neku's face curiously carried a trace of frustration, and he glared at the sign as if he could wither it with his stare. Confused, Eri asked, "What's the matter?"

"I can't read it," he snapped irritably.

After a second's pause, she gasped. "_You can't read?!_ How did you get so far in the Game if—"

Shiki made a sound like laughter and Neku twisted his head to glower at her before staring at Eri. "Of course I can read! But last time I checked I couldn't speak…Canadian."

Eri rolled her eyes but she couldn't help a smile. "But I can read it, and God knows I can't speak a foreign language."

Neku shrugged. "Beat, Rhyme, Shiki, and you can all read the native signs of wherever we go. I can sometimes pick out a word or two…" He trailed off. "But I can't read it."

She didn't know why this happened, but the pulse of the Timer reminded her of their duty. "C'mon, this way." Neku snorted but followed, and they found there wasn't a decal on the little building, but that was all right. It was just a sort of information and pamphlet house, and Eri's eyes scanned the assortment of items she couldn't touch while Neku flipped his Player Pin.

"I can hear thoughts," he muttered to Shiki, or maybe himself. "But I can't read the signs?"

Eri's glance flicked over one pamphlet depicting a black squirrel, and her gaze settled on it curiously. "The Eastern Grey Squirrel". _But it's black,_ she thought in bewilderment. Not even a dark gray, it was _black._ She saw an interesting line of info that she paused to examine, and she thought something clicked in her head that her mouth didn't quite register, but at that instant when the answer seemed to dance on the tip of her tongue, Neku called for her to come with him.

They traveled the rest of the park, and Eri looked at the huge trees that rose around them. Some were so tall that they went past the skyscrapers in the distance, or at least she thought. The rustling and slither of the leafed branches made a strange chorus of sounds that seemed almost like a mockery of the ocean, but she was careful to try and think out who the "Invader" possibly was while observing the greenery.

Once, a Harrier by the name of Luprey sent a dual pack of Noise after them, but the coyotes, rabbits, and swimming sea otters weren't that much of a threat and they were defeated without a lot of hassle. Eri was proud to say that Neku hadn't had to use the Golden Cross Pin even once, so she guessed she wasn't failing at being a decent Partner.

Or so she hoped.

Time was almost up, just two minutes, and after wandering through an aquarium with a decal that made them solid and asking odd questions about the "Invader" to whomever they found—acting like they were tourists playing a trivia game—Neku shrugged. "I don't think we can finish this mission."

Eri suddenly remembered the squirrel pamphlet she had seen, but if she was wrong, it would make her look like an idiot. She wondered how Shiki could stand to be in Neku's apathetic presence all the time. Already he made her feel uneasy and self conscious. "Neku…"

"I mean, how can we find an Invader?" He was either talking to himself, ignoring her, or addressing Shiki. Or all three. The Noise cat was looking at Eri though, and in those brown eyes she saw the familiar sight of her friend.

A little emboldened by Shiki's silent support, Eri spoke a bit louder and firmer. "Neku."

"What?"

"I saw a brochure back in the nature ecology place…"

"And?"

"And…it said something about an Eastern Grey Squirrel."

Neku swore. "How is _that_ important?"

"Let me finish!" Eri stamped her foot angrily. "It said they were brought over from somewhere else, they're not from Canada."

A pause. "Being brought over doesn't mean you're an invader."

"True," Eri conceded. "But to the other animals, those squirrels must be alien invaders. They're black. There's one now." She pointed over his shoulder and Neku glanced behind him.

The threesome watched as a dark squirrel scurried past them and scaled a tree prior to a pair of joggers that had just rounded the bend, and the runners paid the animal no mind.

Before Neku could offer another skeptical response, the Game Master appeared. He had reddish gold hair—it was a strange color, surely—with blue eyes and pale skin. He was dressed strangely, in a red and yellow ski outfit, as if he had just come back from the mountains. With an amused huff, and a condescending grin, he placed some sunglasses on his face and drawled, "Do you know the Invader?"

Eri looked at Neku and he shrugged for the umpteenth time that day. "We don't have any other leads."

"The Invader," she offered, feeling very foolish. "Is the Eastern Grey Squirrel. It was brought over from somewhere else…and to the animals it's not natural?" She finished meekly.

The Game Master gave an annoyed sigh. "What the hell? How did you figure that out?"

Realizing she was right, a sense of triumph made Eri smirk slightly. "There are pamphlets everywhere."

"Hell, there's a nature house that way." Neku added, and his dark sapphire eyes gave Eri an unspoken sense of appreciation.

After a few tense moments where it felt as if the Game Master planned on tearing them to shreds, he only said, "Climb Grouse Mountain and descend Purgatory. You have one and a half hours. Fail and…you get the god damn drift, eh?" With that the young teen turned and stalked away, walking into the forest before Neku or Eri could follow.

"Nice job," Neku said to her with a nod. Eri grinned, but it faded a little as she thought about the new mission, represented by the dull heat waves of the Timer.

_Grouse Mountain…and Purgatory?_

Neku was of the same mind. "I'm already in purgatory," he grumbled to Shiki, and she flicked her ears in response. They scrambled back to the aquarium and quickly asked about the location of Grouse Mountain from a family there. It appeared it was a part of the North Shore Mountains—possibly the ones near Vancouver—and it was a popular ski spot in the winter.

"We can't get there in an hour and a half." Eri objected to Neku once they had stepped back into the UG. The realization made her stomach churn…and made her back and shoulders ache. The memory of the last time that had happened made her grimace. She wouldn't let the transformation occur again.

Neku didn't get to reply, because someone chose that moment to drop two ivory feathers in front of their face. They both grabbed one, and after examining it, they realized it was two of the largest plumes in a set of Angel wings. They turned to see a stately woman that stood like the Queen of England, with sharp features and platinum hair that coiled around her steel gray eyes like barbed wire.

"Tristan, the Game Master, needs to think before he assigns missions." Her voice had an odd refined trill to it, and was as clipped and smooth as the short silver dress she wore. "These feathers will take you to Grouse Mountain, but you'll have to descend Purgatory yourself."

A white light swept the pair away, and Eri had the sensation of moving very, very, _very_ quickly through the air. When they landed, the impact jarred her teeth and caused her ears to ring strangely. Neku wasn't much better, and Shiki had slumped against his head, dazed, tail dangling over his shoulders.

With a grunt Neku shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and they looked around. "Crap. I don't know if it's good it's winter or not."

The sun was out but the light and heat didn't seem to affect the snow. Unlike down below in Vancouver where a few trees had stubbornly clung to their leaves and changed colors, these were _all_ evergreens, and coated with frost. The clouds—_oh my God I'm standing above the clouds—_were like a white mist or fog that layered the bottom of her vision. They were standing beside some whitish chalet with super reflective windows that showed exactly what was opposite of them. More pines and clouds. There was a big steel structure that acted as a ski lift, and Eri felt uneasy at the thought of traveling down those steeply descending slopes. The sky seemed so close that she swore it was no more than a blue veil that thinly covered the stars beyond.

Then, just their luck, someone began speaking to his friend. "Dude," he began in an American accent. "I'm about to try and ski down Purgatory!"

His female friend stared at him aghast, like he was an idiot or had just sprouted wings from his head. "You? Go down Purgatory?" The skepticism in her voice could have rivaled Neku's. "You're idiotic."

"It's the best ski run here!"

"It's the hardest."

"That's opinion."

"Is not."

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

Ignoring the arguing teens, Neku looked at Eri. "Well…we have to go walk down Purgatory. We can't ski in the UG."

"Why not?"

"We can't touch any boards. I don't even know if the ice will affect us. I can't feel the snow."

Eri nodded thoughtfully, and she realized they still had the feather. She looked at its elegant dips and curves disinterestedly, and then she had an idea. "I'm an idiot," she muttered, summoning her rainbow psyche and bending it into a multicolored, flat board. Neku shook his head, wearing an expression of curious horror.

"You are _not_ serious."

She grinned. "Let me see." Dropping the board but keeping her concentration so that it retained its flat shape, Eri kicked off a small hill that smoothed out before it could become a problem. The makeshift snowboard slid smoothly down as if it was greased lightning, and Eri cautiously stopped it. "See?"

"Yeah, but can you make two?"

She picked the board up and handed it to Neku, glad to see it didn't hurt him. With a sigh, she broke the promise she had made to herself only a few minutes ago, that she wouldn't use her wings. "I can fly down," she muttered.

Neku looked steadily at her, and then said, "The kid is heading down Purgatory. We've got about an hour. C'mon."

Eri followed with a lot less energy than before, and they peeked over the edge of the difficult, winding path that apparently served as purgatory to all living souls. The same boy from before said to his friend, "I hear people have _died_ on this slope."

"People die everywhere!" She sounded exasperated, shaking her head.

Neku rolled his eyes at Eri. "At least you can fly. I'd kill for that right now." Shiki clutched Neku's jacket collar a little tighter, her needle claws digging into the fabric. With a quiet, "Hang on." In Shiki's direction, the boy started off down the course.

Eri didn't know whether to laugh or not, because obviously the boy wasn't very good. However it was still brave of him to try. With an uneasy sigh, she closed her eyes and let the burning pain erupt in her shoulders and back, and when she opened them again, her rainbow wings, fringed with a thick outline of black, shimmered in the air beside her. She tentatively flapped them, and found she didn't need to continue doing so to fly. It was so easy to manipulate her wings that Eri was a bit surprised, but she didn't dwell on it, and instead plunged after Neku.

~***~

Sho's smile widened as Cali and Audrey, the Canadian Players, attempted to get the grasp of Tin Pin. He had given them a challenge barely within the rules of the Game. They were to defeat Yammer and Shooter at Tin Pin. Now, it hadn't been quite so simple, and mathematical jargon had jumbled up the mission text, but Cali was a math whiz—which Sho had a degree of respect for—so he didn't mind that she figured it out within two or three minutes.

But that was two or three minutes wasted.

With a knowing look, Shooter decimated Audrey's Pin and gave a whoop, ridiculous bandannas and ribbons trailing after him in every movement. "I did it! I beat you again!"

"No fair," Audrey whined, her loose brown hair escaping the confines of her ponytail. "Can't you go easy on us? We're beginners!"

Cali thought to herself, as she surveyed the huge trash heap behind her with the Reaper poised on top, that the Japanese were very weird indeed.

~***~

To think that descending Purgatory had resulted in such a chaotic mess. Eri had landed neatly and quietly like a falcon descending, and she hid her wings as the Reapers did.

It disturbed her how natural it had become.

Neku had actually hit a jutting stone and landed in the low branches of a fir tree, with Shiki balanced precariously on the edge. She dug her claws in like a frightened feline would, tail lashing, casting a mutinous look Neku's way. The boy swore more eloquently than she had ever thought was possible, and Eri finally released her concentration on the psyche. The relief was imminent, and she sighed as her tired mind relaxed and the board dissipated.

Neku got up, hands pushing through the snow as if it wasn't there, and gave her a glare as if daring Eri to laugh. She didn't, though she turned away to hide her amusement with a smile, and with Neku's clunky skiing, or snowboarding as is more the case, they had barely made it in time.

Tristan, the strangely garbed Game Master, seemed to materialize out of thin air. He removed his glasses and laughed. "Wow kid, you went with incredible grace, didn't ya? Way down below Purgatory followed by a winged Player and—"

"Cut the crap, if we're going to fight, get on with it." Neku snarled, in no mood for banter.

Stunned, Tristan coughed and then complied. Black wings sprouted from his back, and a pair of azure tattoo claws replaced his hands. In a whirlwind of tribal markings and rippling energy…

A much larger, with ruffled fur and a spiky mane, gold and cobalt squirrel emerged, tail lashing.

_"You're kidding. What's with this guy and squirrels?"_ Neku's voice floated over from the opposite Noise realm. Tristan coiled his muscles and pounced, and Eri whipped her psyche out, stinging his muzzle and opening a gash. He pulled back briefly before hissing, chattering, and making all kinds of clamor. His big blue eyes rolled over and focused on Eri, and then he lunged again. She suppressed a cry as he sank claws into her side, but she tightened her rainbow streak around his neck and pulled until he was forced to relinquish his grip. She couldn't believe that this was happening—that she was fighting a squirrel of all creatures—but it was the least of her worries. With another crack of her weapon, like a lion tamer, Eri sent Tristan scurrying back.

It made her realize, during the fight as she jumped clear over shockwaves that exploded out of the squirrel when he slammed his tail down, that Joshua had been right. Like all of Neku's friends, she had to learn quickly.

She shoved that out of her mind and concentrated on _not_ being snapped in half by squirrel teeth.

~***~

Rhyme was grateful to be back to _normal_. Not long after Eri, Neku, and Shiki had departed, she had been able to resume her own self. Strangely, she didn't have wings. They seemed to have disappeared without a trace, though she could feel them vaguely, like a knot in her mind. Not that she was really complaining. Beat had been fussing over her the whole time, worriedly checking if she was okay while at the same time looking at his phone. She smiled at her brother's antics. She knew he wasn't scared for Neku, more likely Eri, whom she suspected he had a small crush on.

Turning her attention back to her own phone, Rhyme beheld the curious sight of the squirrel Game Master fighting the threesome. Neku was a whirlwind of blue and orange, using psychic powers to uproot trees and send them at the Game Master. She had a feeling he wouldn't lose again, because if he did, that meant Shiki—"tied" to his Soul—would fade with him. And Eri. Every once in a while Shiki would rake her claws over Tristan's face if he got too close, but mostly she kept still.

Beat was muttering to himself, and she picked out some words of encouragement for Eri. Rhyme looked down and wondered why her own Noise wasn't as big and strong as the others. Well, at least not as big. What was that about?

The question had just crossed her mind when a voice spoke softly in her ear. "I think your brother is distracted. I need to speak with you."

She stiffened and turned around, the beginnings of a psyche starting to glimmer in her hand before she let it die away. Joshua's eyes glinted in amusement at her reaction but he led her silently out of Beat's room, where they had been sheltering from the worse of the Players-turned-Noise. Once in the hallway, the Composer glanced about, as if trying to discern if anyone was nearby. Then he placed his hands in his pockets and smirked gently at her, so it almost seemed like a normal smile.

"Feeling okay?" He inquired.

"Now I am…" Rhyme trailed off, uneasy. "Why did that happen at all? What's going on?"

Joshua closed his eyes and frowned slightly. "Well. Apparently, dear, it's a trick of the Angels. Something is found in the perfume that hangs around in the air that affects a Player's Vibe. The Vibe is the balance of their negative and positive Energy. It's different in Reapers, but an imbalance allows them to shift into their Noise forms. Not all of them have that imbalance, some can acquire it, and others are 'born' with it."

"So the Angels planned this?"

"Supposedly. It's rather new. The 'perfume' is part of the Tournament, but they never bothered explaining it." An explosion rocked the floor, coming from somewhere below them, in the big meeting room no doubt, but neither Joshua nor Rhyme moved. After a few seconds of pause, he continued unperturbed. "You have a question." He giggled a little, opening one eye, forming a lazy purple slit.

"Why is my Noise form so…small? Is it because I'm younger?" Rhyme hazarded a guess.

"Yes. And no." He formed an arch with his fingers. "Well, I'd say it has to do with your age, surely. It makes you a little smaller than the others. It might also be your Vibe. You lack negative Energy, in layman's terms, and this unbalances you. With the perfume in play, it forced you into your Noise form, but left you in control, due to your general mild nature. Your Noise is the same as you. Eri must have imbalanced herself with all her insecurities about not being useful, and ended up with too much negative Energy, and lost control. Shiki I don't know, she's a special case."

"What about the bizarre dream landscape?"

Joshua smirked, opening both eyes. Rhyme thought his pupils were dilated strangely but he didn't seem to notice. "Hmm, it's a side effect of the perfume. The perfume, you see, is a psyche created by an Angel here in the Palace. It comes from the Noise form of her."

"_Her_?" Rhyme echoed incredulously. "_Noise_?"

He nodded. "Remember that feather I gave you?"

Rhyme hesitated, and then nodded. "Yeah, it was before the Moscow Game."

"I'm sure it helped to protect you from the perfume." Joshua waved a hand. "Another reason why you might not have lost your mind. Now, I'm sure you want to know about Shiki."

She nodded.

"Rosalie was an old...friend of mine from a long time ago. Apparently she developed a little crush on me. I never returned the feeling, and she's been bitter ever since." Joshua acted like dismissing a girl's love was no big deal.

Rhyme thought hard about that, tilting her head to the side. Seeing he didn't want to discuss it anymore, she asked, "Well, why did my wings stun G-Money?"

At the mention of the New York Game Master, Joshua's smirk widened. "Ah, your wings are made of positive energy. If you felt strange during the encounter, it must have been his Noise form's power that set off your own transformation."

"So since Reaper Noises are made of negative energy…"

"Yours is positive," Joshua answered quietly. "Like an Angel's. Something I'm sure they didn't see coming."

~***~

Cali collapsed on the ground, red hair spilling around her like blood, and she felt Sho press his clawed foot deeper into her spine.

"You'll have to be quicker than that, you zetta daughters of digits!" He crowed in victory. Cali grunted and sat up, twisting to deliver a blow to the golden lion's chest. She succeeded, the Pin's sharp sword psyche ripping open a gash in his torso. With a hiss, the Game Master pulled his paw back and delivered a stinging blow to her head that caused the Canadian girl's world to spin.

Sho teleported off of her, and Cali tried to seize the opportunity to get her breath back. Audrey was busy trying to keep Minamimoto off of her in the other realm, and she knew she only had precious seconds before he returned. Her mind worked at warp speed.

Most, if not all, of the remaining cities had their Proxies in play for the last round, and Vancouver was no exception. Cali wondered if Sho was affected by discord in the Music, and too tired to try anything else, she reached into the flowing symphony and sent a foreign pulse through it. There was a brief pause, and then Sho warped back and before she could react, kicked her viciously into one of the distorted black and white walls of Pork City.

"You wretched radian! You caused a removable discontinuity in the Music!" Sho snarled, raking the air with his dagger-like claws and shifting his weight from foot to foot. She wondered how he noticed, because surely this Reaper was neither the Composer nor the Conductor.

An Australian Player had accidentally let slip that Shibuya had used their Conductor's Intervention already. That meant they only had to deal with this wily, unpredictable lion and they would be fine. Cali got to her feet and brandished her sword psyche, but Sho had left to terrorize Audrey.

She tore some more holes in the Music, and the discord could be felt even in Pork City. It made her queasy, but the Composer, Antoine, had assured her that if Shibuya's Composer had an ounce of skill, it was nothing he couldn't repair.

However, Cali knew a second before it happened that her foolhardy venture into another city's Music would be her downfall. Even though Sho seemed strangely bothered by the ruptures, and for a while her plan to perplex him worked, a blast of her own disharmony dazed her so bad, Cali couldn't move in time to block Sho's flying kick to her stomach, and the startled cry of Audrey over their bond couldn't even call her from her confused stupor. Another blow to her skull sent Cali into unconsciousness, with the maniacal laughter of the lion Reaper echoing in her mind as darkness closed.

~***~

Eri stumbled as claws left a bleeding gash in her leg, but she stubbornly got back up, cracking her psyche over Tristan's battered muzzle. The yellow and blue squirrel was beaten terribly, most of the tattoo bands hanging limply, but somehow he drew on some hidden strength and seemed to persevere, even when the only thing of the markings intact was his teeth. He limped and snarled and bit and roared, and left Eri wondering if she would collapse before he did.

Tristan lifted what remained of his paws, an unraveled mess of blue, and swiped them through the air. One caught on Eri's cheek even as she pulled back, scratching her skin like briars. The snow and trees around them were beginning to acquire longer shadows. Their time was almost up, as the frantic pulses of heat on her skin showed, and despair made her heart twist in agony.

_"Eri, we have twenty minutes! This guy's not giving in."_

_"I know! What do we do?"_

_"Shift."_

_"What?"_

Neku's voice snapped at her from over their link. _"Change! Turn into your Noise and fight him, it's our only shot."_

Eri was silent for a full minute as she avoided and counterattacked some more of Tristan's blows, but after a while she knew this was getting them nowhere. She agreed, in the flat tone of one heading for the gallows, and let her wings emerge back into existence.

They itched, the rainbow bands, snaking across her shoulders and back. She let the tattoos extend, covering her entire body, staying still as Tristan reared up on his hind legs, confused. Her entire body burned and her breathing quickened, and Eri prayed she had the strength to keep her sanity as the process forced her into her Noise form.

The white cat with the multihued streaks appeared in a flash of brilliant radiance, and she twisted to dodge a blow. She felt so _powerful_ as her Noise—but she also knew her common sense was capable of leaving just as quickly as the process had come. So Eri kept her mind clear, thinking of her friends whenever the strain became a bit much, sending bullets and whips, balls and energy pulses amongst other things made from an enhanced version of her normal psyche tearing across the field and into the side and face of the squirrel Noise.

The battle seemed to rage on forever, but when ten minutes were left on the Timer, Tristan struggled through a haze of static, aware of his rapidly disintegrating form, balefully eyeing them before collapsing in a whirlwind of particles.

Finally, Cantus Sciurus was no more.

When they emerged back into the regular UG, Eri felt her tattoos retreat and she collapsed as Neku ran to her side. "Eri?" He asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She got back up doggedly, knowing they would get a message from the Composer soon. "Don't ask me why, but I think that Tristan guy is the equal of Sho."

Neku grunted. "Me too. He was far too powerful for a regular Reaper."

The mail came then, bearing tidings of grudging congratulations, and Neku and Eri used the plume to warp back to Stanley Park. Beside a large stretch of water dotted with various birds, two figures waited for them. One Eri recognized instantly; it was the strange Wall Reaper with the white hood and golden crosses. He still didn't show his face, but those pale eyes surveyed them expressionlessly. The other person with him was a cheery looking lady with brownish orange hair, slightly chubby, and wearing a white fur coat.

"You," Neku said in surprise, staring at the white Reaper. "You were there earlier. The Support Reaper."

"I was," he agreed. "My name is Antoine; I'm the Composer of Vancouver. You've bested us, so here is your prize." He nodded to the other person whom could only be his Conductor. "Helen, if you please."

Helen removed an ivory Pin bearing the insignia of a mountain peak. "This is your award."

Neku took it with a curt nod and muttered thanks, and Shiki clapped her paws with a joyous expression. Eri said nothing, too worn out to speak for once, and it wasn't long until they were picked up by none other than Mr. Hanekoma. When he returned them to Neku's room instead of the main chamber, Eri spoke up. "Is the regular meeting area…?"

"Still a few chaotic Noise." Sanae grimaced. "I didn't know what game the other Angels were playing until just now."

"The Angels are behind the Noise?" Neku didn't sound surprised, just as if he was asking for confirmation.

Sanae nodded. "Phones, I'm glad you 'n' Beat managed to avoid that mess." He thoughtfully stroked his chin before adding, "But Skulls Jr., she recently turned back to her normal self."

Eri was relieved to hear it, and she took Shiki in her arms for a spell as Neku stepped outside his room to meet Beat and Rhyme, who had come charging out of theirs with excited shouts.

"Just the three part challenge now, isn't that what Josh said, after we finish the Games?" Eri murmured to Shiki quietly. "Just the Challenge, and we can turn you back to normal. I'll do it even if I have to turn into a Noise a million times. I swear it."

~***~

**_This chapter is brought to you by RawkstarVienna. She reminded me, yes, there is a story to update here. I got caught up in life and my other fictions, so my apologies._**

**_Thanks to James Firebrand for Beta'ing. I need to say this more often._**

**_A very special thank you to The Light's Refrain, since I'm basically using her Player-Noise idea with some edits._**

**_Yet another special note, Melena is not my OC, she's from Upon the Rocks._**

**_This chapter was co-written, or to be precise, 98 percent of the material used for the actual Vancouver missions was created by my friend Jaunea. In my opinion, it was co-written since she gave me the ideas and I just wrote it. Cool missions, no?_**

**_Anyway. Yes. We're about three-four chapters from the end now. Thanks for sticking with me so long!_**

**_Be sure to drop a review, I appreciate 'em._**


	10. Challenge One: Cantus Tranquillus

**Chapter Nine: Shibuya VS Romani**

_Challenge One: Cantus Tranquillus_

Neku woke up with his back and shoulders no longer hurting. The sensation—which he had kept to himself, not even showing his discomfort—had grown increasingly painful. But now, at least, it was gone. He sat up, pushing the white covers off of him and realizing that today was the last Day. He had only to finish the final three challenges, and maybe when he was promoted to Archangel, Joshua could sort out the mess with Shiki and Eri. Either that or Neku would fix it himself. Somehow.

He looked to his side and saw Shiki curled up on the pillow, asleep. The thought of her Soul being called from somewhere inside of him was both comforting and a little disturbing. He pushed at his orange spikes, which stubbornly sprang back into place as usual, then stood up, stretching. He glanced around and collected his Pins, changed his outfit, and by the time he was ready for quite possibly his biggest challenge yet, Shiki had woken up.

He let her clamber up onto his shoulder, gripping his wide collar for support, and Neku looked around at his room in the Angel Palace for what was hopefully the last time. "Quite a ride, wasn't it, Shiki?"

She bobbed her head in agreement.

"Just three more challenges." And with that he turned and closed the door behind him, waiting in the hallway for Beat, Rhyme, and Eri. Eri's door and room was still badly trashed, evidence of her monstrous transformation, and she had camped out in Shiki's old room. They came out one by one; their faces weary from the battles of the last week, and turned to Neku.

Feeling a strange urge to say something, Neku cleared his throat. "Well…it's the last day. All we have to do is slog through these last three challenges and we'll win."

"Just like when we fought that Megumi guy?" Beat was obviously trying to sound nonchalant and cheerful.

"At least with him you knew what to expect," Rhyme's stature was slightly slumped, as if the energy had gone out of her. "A Conductor battle."

"We didn't expect Josh." Neku corrected. He felt Shiki tug his hair and he looked to his right, seeing the object of her concern. "Eri?"

"Hmm?" She glanced up.

"You okay?" He remembered how her Noise tired her out every time she dared to change into it. Now was no exception, and even her wings were sagging.

"Fine. Let's go!" Eri's eyes hardened and Neku nodded in agreement. With a wave of his hand he called his friends to his side and descended the stairs. They found the entire Palace strangely empty, and their footsteps echoed hollowly. The meeting room, once such a grand structure of white, was now reduced to nothing but pretty ivory pebbles. They skirted its edges and stood atop the rubble, peering into the chamber through the broken pillars.

"Whoa, the Noise totally trashed the joint!" Beat's voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silence. Eri's heels clicked against the stone as she shifted.

"Yeah, there's no sign of them, though." She said.

"The Tournament is over. We must have been one of the two top ranking cities," Rhyme offered, her eyes never once leaving the ruins. "But where do we go now?"

Neku crossed his arms and leaned against a halfway intact statue of a jaguar, its head missing. "We go nowhere. If Josh or the Angels or whoever the hell else wants to mess with us, they can come get us."

"What if we're disqualified for being late?" Eri fretted.

"Josh would get us beforehand."

"What if he can't?" Rhyme questioned.

Neku shrugged, certain that if Shibuya's Composer wanted something, he'd come get them regardless of any rules. Time seemed to stretch on infinitely, and after what felt like seconds or eons of waiting, the sound of footsteps reached their ears.

Beat was the first to spot him, and he jerked his thumb in the newcomer's direction. "Prissy boy is here!"

Indeed he was, and Joshua deigned to stand below the heap of debris that Neku was resting on instead of scaling it. "Honestly, Neku, can't you at least make an effort?"

"No."

Joshua shrugged at his answer. "Anyway, it's a good thing you didn't and decided to conserve your energy. The Angels have picked a room for you and the opposing team to do part one of the Challenge in." He gestured for them to approach, and after the Japanese Players were crowded around him, he led them out of the room and down a winding hallway that Neku realized hadn't been there before. After a confusing myriad of turns and stairs, they emerged into a featureless chamber, lit by an unseen omnipresent light that created no shadows. White, like everything else in the Palace. For the first time, Neku noticed the cloying reek of the perfume was gone from the air.

Standing there, waiting for their arrival, was an assortment of kids that could only have been the opposing team. Neku quickened his pace and kept up with Joshua's even strides as they approached, and the two teams faced each other, only three feet away.

Neku tried to take in the all details he could.

There was no doubt; the first girl was the Composer. She was of average height, around his own, but her eyes were dark and strangely lifeless. Even Joshua's eyes, violet as they were, carried his special brand of sardonic humor. This girl didn't have traces of _anything_ in hers. Her hair was also black, deeply, with no other shades inside it. It was like the night sky but missing the stars. Her skin was tan, as Neku noticed most of the kids had; therefore he assumed they were from someplace sunny.

The girl looked at him, then at Joshua, then skipped her gaze from Beat, standing protectively beside Rhyme and glaring at the opposite side, to Rhyme, to Eri, and finally back to him. After another heartbeat she spoke. "About time you showed up." She had a biting sarcasm in her voice that even rivaled Neku's own. Her apparent scorn was directed at Joshua.

The violet eyed teen only smiled. "Sorry to keep you waiting Vienna," he replied in a tone that made it clear he wasn't sorry at all. Joshua was _never_ sorry, after all, as far as Neku knew. "Shall I introduce us first, or do you wish to?"

Vienna, the dark haired girl, gave an indifferent shrug. "Like he already said, I'm Vienna. This is Jason, Rose, Blake, Walter and Sam." She pointed to each of them in turn, and Neku looked at them curiously, arms crossed.

Jason had light brown hair and dark skin, also tan. He had the same expression on his face that Neku bet was on his own, a look of passive, vaguely pessimistic, annoyance. Rose had long wavy blonde hair and a crescent moon tattoo that he glimpsed on her wrist. Unlike the others her skin was pale, and her green eyes carried an intellectual look. Blake had fair skin, brown hair to his ears, and glasses. Neku instantly didn't like the way he stood. It was with a superior stance and an arrogant tilt of his head, and he cast a strange look in Shiki's direction. He felt her shift on his shoulders, probably wishing she wasn't a cat.

Walter also had fair skin, while Sam had tan. Walter had black hair and Sam had blonde, but they both had blue eyes. He couldn't read them well, save for Sam, whom had a look that seemed to be made to oppose Rhyme's. He looked downright depressed, as if the world was a deathtrap waiting to happen.

Neku couldn't help wondering, just for a moment, how the other kids saw him. He then shrugged it off. This was for Shiki.

"Enchanted, I'm sure." Joshua smirked. He added a small giggle that seemed to alarm some of the other kids. Hell, it still disturbed Neku a little. "I'm Yoshiya, but you can call me Joshua. They're Neku, Beat, Rhyme, and Eri."

"Who's the cat?" Rose inquired curiously, looking at Neku. He briefly pondered if she was asking him in particular or just voicing a question to everyone, but he decided to answer anyway.

"She's Shiki." He snapped shortly in a tone that everyone else knew meant _shut the freaking hell up about it._ Apparently Rose didn't, or she didn't care, though her voice was a bit more cautious and polite.

"What happened?"

Neku decided to tell the truth. "The Russian Game Master killed her."

"And she turned into a cat?" Walter sounded amazed. "How'd she do that?"

"Magic." Neku said dryly, wishing they'd shut up.

Blake smiled a little. "Was she your Partner?" His tone dripped false sympathy.

Beat said instead, "Yo shut up about it! Phones don't like discussing what happened!"

"Manners, Beat." Rhyme chided him gently. She faced Blake, and Neku realized she was easily the youngest of the group by a full two years. _That might put her in danger_, he thought. "Shiki's psyche let her do that. But anyone can come back as a Noise if your Soul can be found. I know."

"How?" Jason sounded only a little interested.

"It happened to me once," Rhyme replied calmly, earning an inquisitive look from Rose and a few surprised glances from the others, minus Blake.

"What're we waiting for?" Eri spoke for the first time, sounding nervous.

"The Angel, of course." Vienna sighed and rolled her eyes at Joshua. "They certainly take their sweet time, don't they?"

"They always have." Joshua tapped his foot. But on the third hit, in a burst of radiance, the Angel appeared. It was the same gray cloaked being that had spoken during Rhyme's and Beat's last Game in Sydney. She flicked her hood back, and everyone stared in surprise.

She had a human face like a young woman, but strings of white ethereal light that seemed to come off of her skin like hair flowed behind her as if it was seaweed in an ocean current. She was blindingly beautiful, and her eyes were a gentle, glowing pink ringed with silver. She landed delicately and walked toward them, lips turning up in a smile. _"Welcome,"_ she greeted warmly, her voice sounded like echoing wind chimes and Neku couldn't reply. The same effect seemed to have hit everyone, even the Composers. Neku saw Joshua's jaw clench while Vienna's eyes narrowed, and at that moment he knew the Angel's presence seemed to be working some hidden psyche.

_"My name is Romani,_" she continued. _"And I welcome you to the final three challenges in our Tournament. Vienna and Yoshiya, you've chosen great Players. Players, you've played well. As the first part of our challenge…The Los Angeles Team and the Shibuya Team will play _together_ with one another, fighting side by side against…me._"

Neku was shocked, and he exchanged a stupefied look with Beat.

_"Sam of the Los Angeles Team, I apologize but you cannot play. It would be an imbalance on the teams that I will not allow."_ Romani said, nodding in Sam's direction. His expression soured.

"What _do_ I do then?" He demanded.

_"…Vienna, I quite recommend just sending him home. He cannot play, not while the Shibuya Players have need for their Substitute."_

Sam glared at Shiki as if it was her fault, then cast a look at his friends before Vienna snapped her fingers, wordlessly sending the blonde boy back to wherever his home was. Romani crossed her arms and smiled benevolently, as if nothing had happened. _"Now then. We shall begin in only a minute. Yoshiya, if you would be so kind, will you take Shiki with you until after the battle is over? She is quite welcome in the second round of the Challenge, but not this one."_

Shiki flicked her tail and jumped to Joshua, and he held her as if she was a normal housecat. That done, Romani nodded. _"I prepare for the fight. Don't forget you work together this round, so try not to make enemies. A house divided—"_

"Cannot stand." Rhyme finished.

Romani pulled her hood back up with a final smile for Rhyme, and the gray cloak seemed to encompass her thin frame entirely until she melded into the light and vanished from sight.

Silence.

Joshua and Vienna apparently had to leave, but the Los Angeles Composer said something in Blake's ear before standing a ways away and waiting for Joshua. Shibuya's Composer said quietly to Neku, "The Music is a very important thing, Neku. You can smooth out dissonance notes in someone else's Song."

After a few moments Neku understood and he nodded. Joshua smiled. "Have fun, Neku." With that he turned and walked to Vienna's side, vanishing in a glimmer of snowy white that blended with the pale ivory of the walls.

Clearing her throat, Rhyme made conversation for the last thirty seconds they had. "Do you think Angels have Noise forms?"

Rose nodded. "I believe so. I don't think Romani will fight us in her current form, though I _do_ wonder how we will possibly defeat a being as powerful as an Angel."

"Conductors were bad enough." Beat muttered, but he gave Neku a strange look that was mixed with a sort of…hope?

_That's right. I defeated a Conductor, one step below the Composer. Maybe I can do an Angel, with some help?_

"Who's your leader?" Blake spoke up, looking amongst the Japanese Players until his gaze settled on Neku. "You?"

"Yeah I guess. What do you want?"

A flicker of light appeared in the air, hanging in the heavens above them like a glimmering mantle of blinding silver against the ever present white. When nothing happened for a short while Blake spoke to Neku again.

"Follow my lead, and—"

"Screw that." Neku snapped. "If anything _you_ listen to _me_."

Blake gave a short laugh of derision. "I've done more than you, I can guarantee."

"Right. So you've defeated a Taboo Game Master, partnered up with the Composer, done the Game three times, and beat the Conductor _without a Partner in the Noise realms with you._"

The American kid seemed to deflate a little, but his tone was still scathing. "You're lying."

"He's not!" Rhyme, Eri, and Beat all cried out at once. Neku felt rather smug, despite himself.

Walter said hesitantly, "I think they're telling the truth."

Blake shot Walter a death glare, but before he could speak, Romani reappeared. The stars flew down to her back, gathered together, and then formed the largest pair of wings Neku had ever seen. The silvery feathers seemed to be made from the light of the moon. She landed coolly and smiled. _"Just so you know, Players cannot use their Noise forms this fight. And on that note, are you ready to face Cantus Tranquillus?"_

"Singing Tranquility…?" Rose murmured to herself.

Without waiting for an answer, Romani let the wings cover her body. The cocoon formed by the delicate plumes began to roil, like a creature trapped in a bag, and something huge exploded from the confines of the feathery membrane.

It was roughly five times the size of an elephant Noise, maybe more, and was no animal that Neku recognized. It seemed to be a chimera, a mixture of many beasts. It had a reptilian snout, like a dragon, sharply pointed with a hook at the end. The rest of the head was more doglike, with triangular ears and bright rosy eyes with a slit for a pupil. The body was a cross between a bear and a badger, with powerful shoulders and a deadly set of claws the size of swords. The tail was like a dolphin's, and the fin at the end was covered in bristly barbs like a porcupine or hedgehog's quills. The wings, if they were still there, were nowhere in sight. To make it worse, the entire monstrosity was covered in armor, with only thin gaps at the elbows and ankles, and where the neck met the head. The plates of protective gear were strangely translucent, and underneath, foggy but still there, the heaving internal structure of the Noise was inside. It was like watching a white sea in turmoil, exploding against the skin as if it was trying to escape it. The skin was patterned like diamonds, each scale the size of Neku's entire body. The long ivory claws of Cantus Tranquillus tore into the floor, sending orange sparks reaching into the heavens. The pink orbs of the monster rolled forward and focused on Neku—and Neku in particular—set in their background of deepest ebony and gleaming grayish white.

Romani roared, and the Players scattered.

The Noise realms had opened without Neku noticing, and he realized that Beat, Blake and Jason were beside him, and that meant their partners, Rhyme, Rose and Walter, must be with Eri. They were all linked loosely, this he knew, because he felt seven different heartbeats with him, and he could hear their startled voices.

_"How do we fight that monstrosity?!"_ Jason sounded horrified.

Walter answered with a cheery, _"The bigger they are the harder they fall!"_

_"Yeah, yo! That's the way to go!"_ Beat slammed his skateboard down and rapidly approached Romani. He skated around her side and then slammed into one of her humongous armored legs. There was a ripple and a large, echoing bang, but besides for the strange sound, she seemed unaffected. Lowering her head she opened her jaws and bellowed, and from within her mouth, tongues of light reached out and encircled him.

"Hang on, Beat!" Neku raced over and slashed the strange tendrils away with some compressed energy from within a Pin titled Scythe, which created dangerous sickles of power that tore apart almost anything it came in contact with, like a guillotine. Freed, Beat scrambled away with his skateboard and stared in stunned surprise as the thrashing bands retreated.

"Ah, _shit_ man, it's not bothered at all!"

"That was stupid," Blake hissed at Beat.

"Have a better idea?" Neku growled savagely, clenching his fists and staring at the huge monster Noise.

"The Music," was the smug reply.

Neku did a mental slap, mad at having had forgotten it when Romani had transformed. The moment he and Blake were about to attempt it, the Noise tossed her head back and let out a strange cry.

It echoed in the room, stopping all Players from moving. It rebounded harshly on Neku's ears, and a strange sluggishness overcame him. He didn't even feel like moving, and his thoughts screeched to a halt. Blake, Beat, and Jason didn't look any better, their eyes heavy and their mouths partially opened.

_What's…go…ing…on…?_

Time seemed to have frozen…

~***~

Vienna was still thinking over her evaluation of the Shibuya Players.

Neku, the fiery haired leader. She saw why he was Joshua's Proxy—he certainly had the quick wits, physical prowess, and intelligence. His Soul flared brightly, intertwined with a pale golden strand that represented how Shiki's Soul had combined with his. He had an expression of constant disinterest, but fast eyes that had observed everything. The brown Noise cat on his shoulder, Shiki he had said, seemed rather attached to him. No doubt she was his determination incarnate. He'd do anything for her.

Beat, the muscular boy in the skull hat, obviously wasn't as intelligent. But he had a strong look to him and an even stronger Soul, and the way he stood by the little girl that was clearly his sister showed he'd do anything for her also. Partnered, they'd be a formidable duo.

Rhyme was the youngest by at least a year or two, but she had bright blue eyes that were wiser than her years. She had a thin frame but she stood calmly and without excess movement, and she had a sort of suppressed energy to her. Athletic. Her own wings were a strange gold-white color, soft and feathery instead of sharp, like most wings.

The other girl, Eri, was plainly nervous. She kept fiddling with her dyed pink hair—rather asinine Vienna thought—but she had the strangest Imagination. It shifted and moved constantly, and though her wings were hidden from view to most people, they still showcased the unusual power inside of her. Inexperienced as she was, she was without a doubt going to be a problem.

Vienna wasn't often worried, but she _was_ a little apprehensive. Certainly the biggest problem would be Neku. News of his feats had spread across the UG and HG like wildfire. The boy was unpredictable and strange things happened to him. He had defeated a Conductor, after all, help from the others or not, it had mainly been him. Three time winner of the Game also, almost unheard of.

_He will be Blake's biggest competition. And no doubt Neku will go for him first._ The echoing roar of the Angel interrupted her thoughts, and the girl looked at the "mirror" that showed the two Composers what was going on inside the room. The huge Noise chimera was seeking to intimidate the Players, and apparently it had worked, because they all scattered to escape the range of her humongous claws.

"Worried?" Joshua inquired, raising his eyebrows from where he stood behind her. She saw his visage reflected a little in the mirror, and she turned to face him, arms crossed.

"Of course not. If I was you, _I'd_ be worried." Vienna pointed to the screen, which had just showed Beat being almost eaten alive by white tendrils. Neku raced in to save him. The mirror shifted unexpectedly to show the sister Noise realm, and Rhyme, Eri, Rose, and Walter weren't being quite as hasty. Instead they were retreating backwards bit by bit, discussing amongst themselves what to do. "One of your Players almost Erased himself only two minutes into the match."

Joshua shrugged, unbothered. "Neku will sort it out."

"You have _that_ much confidence in one of your Players?"

"I know he can do it." The Composer said simply, his purple eyes bright.

Vienna pondered that, turning to examine the mirror again. The room they were in was the same place Shiki had walked into and saw the white dragon facing the wolf, though neither of the two beasts were on the screen now.

With a tinge of amusement, Vienna knew Blake probably had as much confidence in himself as Joshua did in Neku. _I just hope the same._

~***~

Neku's mind was on standstill, but he was still painfully aware that Romani was moving toward them slowly, unhurried. Each sentence that formed in his head seemed to take an eternity to complete.

_She's…do…ing…some…thing…_

The sound still echoed brokenly in the huge room, and across his more direct link with Eri, he felt her own bewilderment. Neku couldn't concentrate enough to get the icy feeling fully onto his skin, and therefore it made it impossible to touch the Music.

A jolt of pain ruptured across the link he shared with the L.A. Players and his own friends. Beat suddenly moved, faster than Neku thought possible, and hit Romani on her scaly snout, sending another hollow echo into the air.

"Leave Rhyme alone, yo!"

The agony vanished as Rhyme apparently was released, and Romani turned her direct attention on Beat. Neku still had trouble thinking clearly, but it had lightened up considerably. He dove into the Music and heard Blake's Song—a hard rock mix with rap—echoing along with his own Song that he considered a musical discord. The Music was in chaotic disharmony, with thrashing notes and banging drums that drowned out all reason.

_"Blake."_

_"I know."_ He snapped.

The pair of Proxies soon found out what their Composers had meant by "dissonance notes". Put simply, one would only have to imagine black notes clashing together with white notes and spreading the hypothetical "disease". Neku and Blake began changing the notes with discharges of the white energy that was the signature trademark of a Composer, smoothing the unnatural rhythms. When most of the mess had been cleared, a blast of sudden activeness surged through all of them, and Neku knew the Angel's influence had been lifted.

_"What the…?"_ Rose's voice sounded tired and confused, though gradually Neku could feel her strength rebuilding.

_"What happened? It's gone!" _Eri sounded amazed.

_"Rhyme, you okay?!"_ Beat called to his sister in the opposite realm.

_"Fine, Beat."_

_"Walter, still standing?"_ Jason asked.

As Partners exchanged startled and concerned sentences across their bond, the Cantus Tranquillus seemed to be recovering from the unexpected destruction of her special psyche.

_"Alright, shut it! There has to be a weak spot on Romani."_ Neku interrupted.

Blake nodded. _"There are spaces between some of the armor plates."_

_"We're going to get up there _how_? She'll tear us apart before we can ever reach her side." _Jason retorted.

_"But wait,"_ Walter said thoughtfully. _"Some of us can distract her, in both realms."_

_"It's the only lead we have. I think that's a good idea, Walter."_ Rhyme agreed.

_"Fine. Blake and I can try to attack Romani, Jason and Beat can distract her."_ Neku said.

_"Eri and Rose can attack on your side, and Rhyme and Walter can distract them."_ Blake added.

Beat placed his board down again and said to Jason, "This Angel chump is goin' down!"

"Either that or we are," Jason sighed. He removed a simple pen from his pocket, and then took the cap off and a bluish energy blade sprang out from inside it.

Beat recoiled. "_Ah crap!_ What the _hell_ man?!"

Blake laughed and even Neku let out a small chuckle at Beat's expression. Then their attention went back to Romani as, with a shake of her head and a growl, she focused her pink gaze on them. She stalked forward, one slow step at a time, waving her barbed tail.

Beat leaped onto his board and sailed toward Romani with Jason breaking into a run to follow. The pair passed her and Romani turned around, her back to Neku and Blake, to watch them. She reared up on her hind legs and brought them down, claws scraping the floor as she tried to catch the two. With Jason slicing at her legs—it bounced off like everything else but got her attention—and Beat shouting vulgarities while striking at her lowered head, they distracted her long enough for Neku and Blake to quietly approach.

Neku located one of the gaps in her armor on her right hind leg, right where her paw met her ankle, and saw the strange energy surging against the crystalline skin. He reinforced the Scythe Pin's normal sharp streaks with a coating of the white power from Joshua's Dissonance Pin, and then attacked with all his might.

There was another hollow bang—like when one struck a bell—and then the skin broke. One massive scale was missing a chink in the middle, and the fighting interior of the inside began to flow out. The ivory force within Romani was strong enough to knock Neku off of her leg, and he landed on his back, breathless. He stared up as the mysterious substance escaped like smoke. Blake had succeeded on her other hind leg, and he also ended up knocked away.

Romani's ears twitched and she turned around to direct her attacks on them. She opened her mouth and loosed more tendrils that encircled Neku's legs and dragged him toward her. Blake was in the same predicament. Neku slashed at the bindings, but as fast as he broke them, more replaced the snapped strands. He tried fire, ice, pulling them away with telekinesis, but to no avail. Jason and Beat ran to help, but Romani suddenly jerked her head back and, with the two boys still attached, flung them into the air where they hung for a moment before dropping into her mouth and down her throat.

~***~

Vienna and Joshua stared in stunned horror at the screen, and before she could speak, Joshua beat her to it.

"I know what you're going to say."

"Really."

He smirked. "I'm still not worried."

In all honesty Vienna thought he was lying, but then again it was hard to tell. Blake and Neku had _just been eaten_ by an Angel in a demonic Noise form with her insides composed of frothing white energy. It would take a miracle for them to survive.

Joshua leaned back, balancing his orange cell phone in his hands. He winked at her, and she wondered if he had read her mind. "Determination _can_ work miracles, dear."

Vienna wasn't even far into that train of thought before she snapped, "Call me 'dear' again, and I won't rest until you're inside that Noise." More vulgar comebacks had come to mind, but clever retorts weren't her biggest concerns at the moment.

~***~

Neku's entire world seemed to be made of white. It moved around him, warm and cold at the same time, pressing against his body with what felt like enough force to break his bones. It was like being afloat in a sea trapped in turmoil. He struggled to move, and he thought he glimpsed Blake to his right, glasses askew, as he also fought the deadly current that was dragging them down, down, down…

Suddenly, like bubbles, patches of shiny silver rose all around them. In the strange substance, Neku glimpsed his friends fighting from all angles in their various realms. Eri had just been knocked over by an ivory claw, Rhyme was helping Walter to his feet, and he was bleeding from one of Romani's tail spikes, still stuck in his shoulder. Rose was holding what looked like a staff formed from roses, and she deflected a stream of bullets from Romani's mouth with a quick spiral of her weapon.

Jason and Beat were doggedly trying to fight Cantus Tranquillus, but the Noise was too powerful. Neku realized with a thrill of terror that she was gearing up for another use of her deadly psyche. With a wild keening sound that rumbled the inside of her body, and the outside, the deadly power took effect. With no Proxies to dilute the swell of energy, the others were at her mercy.

A red mist coated everything briefly, and then the Players started attacking one another with various growls of sudden rage. The only ones seemingly trying to fight the sudden mood change were Rhyme and Rose, and the two girls retreated a few steps, exchanging dismayed looks. Neku couldn't hear what they were saying.

He closed his eyes as a great weariness overtook him. He was so tired. He had wanted nothing more to do with the Game, but was always dragged back in. He wondered if it would be better to simply drift away and let himself fade…Blake had stopped struggling too, and the two boys felt as if it had never been worth trying in the first place.

_Neku._

He stirred slightly, that voice the only one that could call him from his defeated reverie.

_Neku, you've got to keep trying._

Hell, he was tired. He had done so much already. Can't someone else…?

_No, Neku. Please. For me. For Rhyme and Beat and Eri. You've got to keep going! Don't ever give in! You can do this, Neku._

_Shiki…?_

He opened his eyes and thought he saw her reflected beside him in one of the strange reflective bubbles. When he blinked she was gone. Neku forced himself to move, almost as if he was swimming in a thick, heavy pool.

_That's it, Neku. A little faith is all we need._ She encouraged. _I believe in you._

He realized how close he had been to dying, and that scared him more than anything. He had died before, but somehow this felt _different_. This wouldn't be death…this would be total obliteration. Erasure. You'd be gone from the UG, HG, _and_ the RG. Neku felt a new vigor grip him and he reached over and grabbed Blake's shoulder. He was surprised his voice could even form in the foreign energy.

"Blake! Get up!" He shouted. "Do it for your friends, we can't give up yet! They need us!"

His eyes snapped open—maybe he had been talking to someone too?—and he nodded. The pair of boys looked around for a way out, basically swimming in the white material.

"They're killing themselves," Blake breathed, for the first time since Neku had met him, there was no arrogance in his tone.

He glanced at one of the mirrors, and saw that he was telling the truth. Romani had simply planted herself down to watch, lounging on her side like a gigantic cat, big pink eyes bright.

"Not if we can help it," he growled. Kicking forward for what seemed like a millennium, the two encountered something. The core.

In the middle of the great and powerful Cantus Tranquillus, where the two Proxies had almost met their fate, Neku saw a huge sphere. It was like a fractured diamond, with light reflecting off it on every angle. Swirling inside of it was a pink and silver mist that seemed to pulse.

"It's a heart," Blake said at his side. "We have to kill it! It has to be the only weakness this monstrosity has!"

Neku nodded once. They swam up to the side of the heart and pressed their palms against its freezing cold surface. Instantly all feeling left his hands, leaving them numb, but he ignored it. "On the count of three, we'll attack at the same time."

"Right." Blake shifted some Pins to his other hand before reassuming the position. "One."

"Two." Neku echoed, taking a deep breath. At the same time as Blake he shouted, "Three!"

The pair unleashed all of their strength at the same time, and in a spectacular explosion of elements and telekinetic powers, compressed energy and various forces from various different Pins, combined with their gifts from the Composers, the orb broke into a half dozen huge chunks.

Romani's own swirling substance tugged away the remnants of the crystal sphere, and the pink and silver mist vanished into the chaos as the inside of the massive Noise began to heave and buck. Blake and Neku let out cries of shock as they were caught in a whirlpool and whipped around so fast, Neku began to feel sick. The world had become nothing but a streak of white and shiny gray.

~***~

Outside, Romani had leaped to her feet since the shattering of her core. Then she began to stumble and moan, her eyes rolling in her skull, stomping her great paws on the ground. With a final cry, she fell face first on the ground spread eagled, and lay very still. In a red glimmer, the psyche's mood control wore off and the Players ceased their pointless battles.

Rhyme sat up and blinked, wondering how she had gotten on the floor. Walter stirred beside her, and she shook him gently. "You okay?"

He peeked up at her through his black hair. "Yeah. What happened?"

She stood and offered him her hand, helping him up. "I don't know…Romani must have…" She turned and gasped as Cantus Tranquillus began to bubble, and her armor melted off in a molten wave of color, leaving behind the somehow smaller looking chimera Noise. Holes appeared in her body and more of the frothing white energy burst out of her scales as she began to convulse on the ground, letting out another unearthly wail.

Rhyme heard Jason say, _"Well our plan didn't work. Like I thought."_

Rose said thoughtfully to everyone, _"Blake must have done something _inside_ of Romani."_

_"Blake? Screw that, it was Phones that up and saved us I bet."_ Beat snorted.

_"Whoever it was,"_ Rhyme said quickly before anyone could start arguing. _"That's not the point. The point is, they _both_ were inside that thing!"_

It took a few moments for realization to hit, and then everyone raced to the Noise's body as the realms collapsed. The friends were now all together in the HG, and they stood as near the disintegrating body as they dared, waiting for Neku and Blake.

Romani's skin was gone all together, and now her own pale insides covered what was left of her body. An orange haired figure extracted himself from the mix, and the white dropped off as easily as if it was only a cloth over his head. A brown haired head also stood up, and together they walked off the immense corpse of the Cantus Tranquillus.

They then collapsed on their sides, with their friends rushing up to them.

Eri said worriedly, "Neku, are you okay?"

He opened his eyes and propped himself up, blinking owlishly. "I'm fine…ugh…It was a nightmare in there. But Shiki…she…"

"What about her?" Rhyme asked curiously.

"She saved my life. I had almost given up." Neku stood up with Beat's help and clicked his Golden Cross Pin, healing his wounds but still feeling more tired than he cared to remember. "Blake, you alright?"

Surrounded by his anxious friends also, the glasses wearing Proxy nodded curtly. "Yeah, you?"

"I've been better but I'll live." He smiled slightly and the boy grinned in return.

The body of Romani's Noise erupted into a stream of static that climbed the air, as if reaching for the nonexistent stars before vanishing overhead. Then, two pairs of slow clapping filled the silence.

Joshua and Vienna stalked into the room, one smirking, and the other watching with interested eyes.

"Well done, Neku." Joshua declared. "I knew you could do it."

Vienna said, "Yeah, great work, Blake. We lost sight of you two after you were devoured. What happened? Spill."

Neku sighed. "We almost died. I'm not going to lie."

Blake agreed with a quick nod.

"But…" Deciding not to add that he woke Blake up from his near death trance, he skipped that part and said simply, "We basically swam around inside of Romani until we found her heart. It looked like a big glass ball."

"I then broke the heart with help from Neku."

Neku bristled. "You _ass_, don't act like you did all the work. _We_ then broke the heart. Together." He finished with a glare in Blake's direction.

Blake waved a hand. "Sure, sure."

Rose rolled her eyes, to Rhyme's surprise, and she guessed this must happen a lot.

"Well, I hope you two didn't bond too closely." Vienna said wryly.

Joshua giggled, earning another slightly freaked out look from the L.A. Players not used to his somewhat disturbing girlish laugh. It contradicted his burning violet eyes. "Yes, because after we heal you, you move on to round two."

"Round…two?" Jason said. "With _Romani_? You might as well kill me now! Or those two." He pointed at the pair of worn out Proxies.

"Of course not, dear." Joshua flicked some hair from his face. "You, the Players, and the Conductors, Game Masters, and Harriers will fight each other as part of the second Challenge."

Despite having had been expecting this, Rhyme's stomach twisted uneasily and she turned to look the Los Angeles Players in the eyes as they did the same. Not one of their gazes was hostile.

~***~

**_This chapter is brought to you by the same person the Los Angeles Team was created by: RawkstarVienna. Seriously, I do NOT own the L.A. Players, Conductor, Composer, etc. They are all hers, and they're all awesome. I love writing them. Thanks for letting me borrow your OCs!_**

**_Special thanks to my Beta, James Firebrand, which I really should mention every chapter. 0_o_**

**_I'll try not to take so long to update...I've actually had a LOT of this story written out for AGES, but I take so long to upload because I'm always editing the story, but the main outline of it has been completed for months. But believe me, it's better to wait whilst I perfect the details to the best of my abilities._**

**_Reviews are greatly appreciated, you know?_**


	11. Challenge Two: Player Versus Player

**Chapter Ten: Shibuya VS Los Angeles**

_Challenge Two: Player Versus Player_

Vienna was the first to act. She snapped her fingers and before the sound was even done echoing, four people had appeared.

Neku warily examined them. The Conductor—he could just _tell_—was a few inches shorter than Vienna, but she had mid-back, wavy brown hair. Her eyes were a disturbing shade of fiery, dark red. She had the same tan skin a lot of the Californians had. Beside her was a supermodel tall women with ridiculous high heels (in Neku's opinion anyway) with platinum blonde hair and aquamarine eyes. She had fair skin and a nasty smile that reminded him of Uzuki when she was planning something cruel, but being coy about it.

The two Harriers—they were the only ones showing their wings—stood close together. The girl was of average height with brunette-blonde hair and green eyes with tan skin. The boy was taller than her with dark brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes. All in all, he thought the pack seemed pretty formidable.

"Majority are girls, yo." Beat said in what he thought was a low whisper.

The Conductor turned her eyes on Beat and smiled a little. "All girls? Not scared, are we?"

"I'm not scared of no stinkin' girls! I don't fight women or children, is all." He grumbled.

"'Stinkin' girls'?" Eri repeated skeptically, earning a look of amusement from the Los Angeles Players.

"My Conductor is Monique," Vienna said as if nothing had happened. "My Game Master is Nikki, and Zane and Lauren are the Harriers."

Joshua nodded. "The pleasure is all ours." He clicked a button on his orange cell phone and not even one heartbeat later, almost instantly, Kariya, Uzuki, 777 and BJ appeared. Neku guessed Tenho had opted to be left out, since the Los Angeles Team had two Harriers, not three. After a brief introduction, Vienna and Joshua took several steps back.

"All of you click your Golden Cross Pin, if you need it or not." Joshua stated calmly.

After a moment, everyone did. Then Vienna added, "That one click doesn't count on its charges."

The Players and Reapers exchanged looks. Some were threatening—in Uzuki and Nikki's case—some were mildly interested—in Kariya and Monique's case—and others were just reluctant, as was the cases of the various Players pitted against each other by their Composers.

"Okay…start." Joshua nodded in their direction, casual as usual. Vienna gave a quick, intrigued scan of the crowd as if sizing up their chances before departing in a glittering cluster of white light, along with Shibuya's Composer.

Silence.

In a coiling of great tattoos, Uzuki was the first to shift, instantly followed by Nikki. Kariya watched, eyes bored behind their orange tinted shades. He glanced at Monique. "Forced battles?"

She rolled her eyes, bands crawling across her body like moving vines. "I know, we might as well be in ancient Rome."

Kariya gave a disinterested sigh, obviously not wanting to be in the room, and then he proceeded to act like the effort killed him as he changed into his Noise, followed by Monique.

The shapeshifting Reapers caught the attention of the Players for a few heartbeats before they faced each other, various psyches out and ready.

"Nothing personal," Rhyme said quietly before the Noise realms engulfed them.

Neku twisted to the side immediately to dodge a roaring wall of fire. He glowered at Blake, gritting his teeth and raising hands that were teal with gathered telekinetic power to ward off any other incoming attacks.

"Oh, just missed," Blake taunted with a mournful expression on his face. However, his words positively dripped with sarcasm. "Hold still just a sec!"

"Screw you," was the prompt reply. Neku flicked his wrists and generated a cascade of lightning that rained down from thin air. Blake tossed up a shield before countering with another stream of concentrated flame.

"Is that the best you can do?" Neku scoffed, trying to get him angry enough to make a mistake. _If I can just get rid of him, it'll unbalance the whole L.A. team!_

Blake wasn't bothered by his comment. He pounced instead, forming concentrated rods of pure ice in both hands. Neku just barely succeeded in dodging the icicles, and he thought the best counter to such frosty weapons was obvious.

He created two spheres of fire so bright that it wasn't even orange or red—it was white. He hurled them at his opponent, dropping to the ground immediately after and rolling to the side. He sprang back up and used his Scythe Pin to compress raw power into a deadly blade. He was only just in time to deflect Blake's newest attack: a boulder that had been aiming for his face.

"You'll have to do better than that, Neku! I expected more from _such_ a celebrated Player."

Neku scowled, pulling his arm back as if to punch his smirking features. When he _did_ let his fist fly, a river of silver bullets burst out from his palm and forced Blake to stop his advance in order to deflect them.

_I can do this_, Neku reminded himself, keeping calm. As he dueled the Californian, he couldn't help thinking one thing…where was Shiki? The Noise cat was nowhere to be found.

Then, over his connection with the other Shibuya Players; "_Rhyme, watch out!"_

* * *

_"Rhyme, watch out!"_

Rhyme flinched at Eri's mental voice in her head, _and_ in her ears. She didn't need such a frivolous comment, think you very much, with Walter coming after her with his lighter. The black-haired boy seemed almost reluctant when it came to attacking her, but regardless he whipped around and around in a circle as he sent waves of flame out at her.

The girl retreated hurriedly, spotting out of the corner of her eyes Uzuki's monstrous weasel tearing into Nikki's platinum bird form. A bat appeared to be chasing down Kariya's nine-tailed fox, but the Shibuya Conductor's expression was bored, so obviously he was having no trouble.

For a few shared heartbeats, Rhyme and Walter both halted their offensive as a _dragon_ pelted between them, flapping its massive wings, scales glittering as it angled straight for 777 and BJ. Then Walter launched back into his assault, and she rapidly swirled the air in front of her with her hands, using a Telekinesis spin to dispel any burning embers.

_Fire…fire…what counters fire? Water. But I don't have an aquatic Pin._

Several unformed swear words flitted through her mind. Rhyme hissed in pain as the tendrils of fire snapped past her guard. One caught her cheek and trailed along it, leaving behind a line of scalded flesh. She retaliated in kind by bringing a rock down from _somewhere_ and letting the stone shards scrape the skin from Walter's arms and face.

_Maybe I don't _need_ water. Ice becomes water, and he has plenty of fire!_

Pleased with herself, Rhyme fell to the ground and coated it with ice, darting along with her body close to the Palace's white tiles. A stray rainbow streak that flaked off from Eri's whip drifted past her as she moved, and Walter kept rotating his body and head to follow her, flummoxed.

Rhyme leaped up and took a deep breath, launching lightning and more impromptu boulders at Walter. He focused his blue gaze on her, and she saw his eyes flicker with confusion. Since he was surrounded by ice, the boy deigned not to take a step. He didn't have to, after all, with his flames coiling and snapping after her like fiery snakes.

The bad thing about burns was that they hurt for a long time, and left pretty bad marks. She hurt all over her legs and neck, but especially her face. The sting on her cheek was starting to become more painful by the second. Rhyme strove to ignore it; instead she put her plan to action. She stepped out of Walter's reach, and he approached her warily, using his fire to melt the ice at his feet.

Then, whilst he was distracted, Rhyme tackled him.

She knew her smaller size was a disadvantage, so she hurled my icy shards at him and he had to throw his arms up to protect his face. She hit his torso and down they went into the slushy, newly formed water. Rhyme bit back a scream of agony as Walter's merciless flames sank into her skin, but regardless, she sensed Beat's pang of concern across their mental link.

Neku was in trouble, somehow she registered this as she grappled with Walter, slipping out of whatever hold he tried to secure on her. She threw all of her energy into the ice Pin she was calling on, using it to dull the ache of the fire. As fast as she had noticed Neku's distress, it was gone, and she guessed he had handled it himself.

Shibuya's Proxy should be the least of her concerns, she reasoned.

Walter thrashed, his face contorting with discomfort as he dealt with the close proximity of her ice. Rhyme finally closed her fingers around the lighter, and only following some more scuffling did she succeed in tossing it into the surprisingly deep, freezing, snowy mess around them. It landed with a small splash, and Rhyme used her Telekinesis to haul it further away, now that it was out of his grip.

Delivering a crashing blow to the back of her skull, stunning her for a second, Walter scrambled after his lighter. Rhyme shook her head, dragged herself clear of the liquid and bringing down a streak of lightning. Walter yelped as the electric energy coursed through him, and the beaten and battered girl quickly followed her attack with another. She had to be careful of the water, lest it electrocute them both.

She swallowed, forming a crystalline spear of frozen precipitation in her hand. Rhyme saw this as killing, no matter what Joshua said. Killing for a _Game_. But her friends were counting on her, and she couldn't—wouldn't, and shouldn't—let someone else do what she had to for her.

But still. It went against Rhyme's nature.

Her hesitation almost rendered her hastily improvised plan useless, but Rhyme finally hurtled the deadly projectile through the air. It hit Walter's neck and went out the other side the instant he turned, lighter in hand, to strike at her.

Rhyme felt her throat clench as she stared into his shocked eyes. She had liked him, too. She had had nothing against the Californian who was a victim of fate, like she was. He vanished in a cloud of static, and the girl allowed herself a few seconds to relax.

Darkness tore huge chunks from her vision, and startled, Rhyme quickly clicked the Golden Cross Pin. She turned her attention onto Eri, dueling Rose as she was, because the female L.A. dweller had just said in a strangely calm voice, "You Erased Walter?" As if she was only asking the time.

This scared Rhyme more than anything.

* * *

Eri hopped back in shock as Rose twirled her thorny staff, jamming the end of it into the ground. It stayed upright. Pale yellow and white tattoos were encasing her body, hardening into a writhing cocoon.

She was too frozen in fear to move, until Rhyme shouted, "Eri! You've got to do the same!"

_The same. I have to do the same. That's right._ Eri swallowed, and she reached for the foreign energy that was becoming less foreign every second.

The transformation was never the same twice.

Despite herself, Eri gasped as the ivory vines and rainbow strands forced their way around her. She was helpless now as her wings flared into existence and draped over her form. Clawed paws flexed and twitched as she shook out her hands, and she scraped her now lethal feet against the tiles. She had enough strength in one kick to knock down a wall, if not more than that.

An iridescent rainbow glow appeared on her tail and claws and the edges of her spiny wings, and Eri knew it meant her transformation from girl to Noise was complete. She snapped her teeth, fighting the Noise's instinctive reaction to tear apart everything with positive emotion, to absorb it. She wasn't a Noise, and the sooner she established this, the easier control would be.

Rose had morphed into a gorgeous bird-of-paradise with long golden feathers that seemed both peculiar in graffiti form and positively breathtaking. Eri, despite herself, felt a stab of envy. She crouched low and sprang away as a white beak blazed down and struck the floor only half a heartbeat after her.

"This is for Walter," Rose vowed evenly, her green eyes narrowing to slits. Eri's reply was a hiss and a quick swipe of her claws.

As a Noise she felt invulnerable and powerful, and of course she didn't like this, because it wasn't her.

Eri glanced to her side and saw Rhyme standing there, knees bent and prepared, lightning playing between her fingers. "Are you ready?" The Bito sister asked.

_I can do this. I need to bring Shiki back._

She didn't say anything, but she coiled her tail high over her head, cracking it like a whip, and as Rose descended from the sky, she leaped heavenward to meet her, falling to the ground in an undignified pile. Teeth sank into shoulder, beak into chest, and all the while wings flapped and thorns tangled with multihued energy strands. Rhyme daren't attack, not with them as close as they were, in case she ended up hitting Eri.

Her vigor was draining fast, and she knew it. Eri clenched her jaw and kicked away from Rose, circling her opponent warily. She didn't have the experience for this! A part of her was frustrated, and her Noise form turned such a negative emotion into power. She felt it as an alien tingle that raced up and down her spine.

Rose spread her wings wide, green thorns hanging from them in tasteful strings of ivy. It only made her look more beautiful, like an exotic angel of death. Clacking her beak sharply, the girl-turned-Noise slowly lowered her "arms" until she was in an almost easy-going position.

Eri was puzzled by this, and she didn't relax her muscles. She growled through her teeth.

Rhyme suddenly hurled a boulder from the ceiling, but Rose only spared it a fleeting look. She sidestepped it, and then let her briars snake out from her like living creatures. Eri flashed her claws out and shredded them, and Rhyme tried another tactic, firing lightning instead.

This time Rose jumped towards them, her wings sweeping powerfully downward with every beat. The air current it generated was enough to cause Eri to move backwards slightly. The distraction was all the bird-of-paradise needed, dive-bombing the Shibuya Players.

Eri fell onto her back and kicked up, scratching her long talons against Rose's face. She felt one claw gouge an eye, and she grimaced in distaste.

Rhyme said, "Rose is going to try a variety of tricks. We've gotta be careful."

The Noise cat rolled to her paws and grunted in response, every hair on her body rising until she seemed twice her size. Glittering tattoo limbs tore into the ground as Rose tumbled along on the floor. She lay motionless for a few heartbeats, during which Rhyme succeeded in pelting her with stones. Then she was up again, dragging one of her wings, limping towards them and jutting her neck out.

Eri was distinctly reminded of something, but what exactly she didn't know for sure.

At first, Rhyme was cautious and hesitant. But when they saw even Rose's vines hung limp from her golden wings, the girl edged closer. She created a storm of icicles that tore into tattoos and feathers, but Rose only lifted her uninjured flying appendage and hissed as they collided.

"Rhyme…" Eri mumbled, not liking how her skin was crawling under her fur and graffiti marks.

The Bito sibling didn't hear though, generating another frozen spear in one hand and drawing her arm back. Unexpectedly, swiftly, Rose lunged towards Rhyme and caught her in her talons, taking off towards the top of the room.

Suddenly, it occurred to Eri that she had been thinking of the birds in nature videos that acted like they were injured…for some reason. The details weren't important. What _was_ important though was Rhyme, being dragged towards the heavens to be dropped to her doom.

Freezing in her tracks to let Uzuki pass on her way to bring Nikki out of the sky, Eri bunched her leg muscles and jumped into the air, her wings stretching out to their full limits to make up for her size. The tribal streaks that formed her wings bore her weight easily enough, and she focused her gaze on Rhyme and Rose.

Rose was struggling to hold the tomboy in her grip as she thrashed, ice and lightning and other such things whirling around her form in a tornado. She dropped her then, unable to bear keeping her hostage, and Eri had to quickly alter her course to catch the youngest of their group before she hit the ground.

It was too steep a dive to pull off a landing, so Eri curled herself around Rhyme and hit the ground on her shoulder, rolling for a few feet before coming to a halt. She actually bumped into Monique as she went by, and the bat only spared her a brief glance before turning back to Kariya.

"Gotcha," Eri managed to breathe out. Rhyme shrieked wildly as she unfolded herself, and she whipped around as fast as she could in response.

"Look out!"

Rose had followed them to the ground, and before Eri could retaliate, a briar vine shot into her heart and went out the other side.

A strange feeling gripped her then, as if she was floating on air.

_Oh…this must be…what Erasure is like…_

She thought it'd be more painful than this, not that she was complaining. As her body broke apart, Eri concentrated on one last thing. She flashed her claws out and removed Rose's remaining eye.

As her adversary screamed in agony, Eri collapsed on her stomach, fading into the shadows beyond. _Is this Erasure permanent, I wonder? Or is it just for this…round…?_

There was another static rustle as Rhyme's ice spear lacerated Rose's heart, just like the thorns had done to Eri's.

The last thing Eri felt for a while was Rhyme's hand on her head. "You did great, Eri."

* * *

Beat was busy fighting Jason, using his skate board as a shield as he reflected Jason's _freaking pen-laser-sword-thing_, when he heard Neku shout in his head.

_"Eri!"_

"Wha…?" He swung his board, frowning, and that's when he realized a heartbeat was missing from their shared pulse. Rage filled him. "Oh, goin' for the inexperienced—"He was surprised he knew that word. "—one of us, are ya? Take this, yo!"

The brown-haired Californian ducked hurriedly, bringing his weapon around in a wide arc in an effort to remove Beat's head from his shoulders. Beat knocked the sword aside and slammed his board into his chest. A shockwave rippled out from the impact, dazing Jason momentarily. Beat followed with a quick combo sequence, and then he forced himself to retreat.

The battle between himself and Jason was fierce, Beat had to admit. It was only broken by brief pauses such as these for both to recollect themselves, and by Neku's and Blake's roaring maelstrom of a duel.

"Ah, shit, I can't keep this goin' much longer. No more of this, man." Beat mumbled aloud, gripping his skateboard tighter all the same. He went back into the melee, crashing and banging his weapon against Jason's, neither of them giving in. Jason was scrawny by Beat's standards, but the kid knew how to use his blade, and multiple times he found himself receiving a nasty scratch, scrape, cut, or wound as the sword found its target.

But Beat was his superior in raw strength and stamina, and Beat's willpower was famous. He should have faded, for example, when he was a Reaper near the end of his Week as Neku's partner. But he hadn't, only because he wanted to save Rhyme.

He was doing this for her now, then. Her—still alive, thank God—Shiki, and Eri. What was with people and targeting the girls?

Growling savagely, he increased his pressure against Jason's energy sword, muscles straining in his brawny arms. Jason steadily began to lose ground as Beat forced him towards the no-man's-zone that was Neku and Blake's battlefield. The two were so swamped in Angelic energy and elemental attacks that they were hardly visible.

Out of all of them, and Beat totally respected this, Neku's heartbeat was still the strongest.

A stray shot blew past Beat's ear, and he instinctively flinched away from it. It allowed his grip to slacken, and Jason surged against him and suddenly burst through his guard. Beat was actually knocked onto his back, which was rare unless he was fighting a particularly vicious Noise. Jason's pessimistic expression was downright depressed now, and it appeared he wasn't eager to kill.

Well, Beat wasn't going to _be_ killed.

He kicked out as he pushed off of the ground with his hands, hitting Jason in the chest. But the boy brought his sword down anyway, and it bit deep into his shoulder. Beat gave a wordless snarl, wrapping his fingers around Jason's neck and lifting him off the ground. A blow from his skateboard sent him flying into the warzone of Proxies, and only then did Beat's body register the blade buried into his flesh.

Just sticking out, like another bone that wasn't protected by skin.

Pain blistered into his mind and almost knocked him unconscious. Beat said in response to Rhyme's worried thoughts, _"Don't click that Pin just yet, Rhyme!"_

He yanked the energy weapon out and hurled it far away, so that it clattered against the tiles, shining its pale light everywhere. When he grunted his consent over their mental link, Rhyme clicked the Golden Cross Pin, and healing energy suffused his system.

Jason burst out of the tumult of power, one of Neku's stray fireballs igniting the ends of his hair. The teen pelted towards his sword, and Beat hefted his skateboard, watching and preparing for another round.

Just like he didn't fight women or children, he didn't like attacking an unarmed foe.

This time, the L.A. boy stopped a safe distance from him. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"That's the plan, yo." Beat replied through clenched teeth. "So get over here so I can kill you!"

Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Dying twice, joy," Jason advanced again. Beat didn't wait to meet him in the middle, opting instead to charge him. They grappled once more, and as they dueled, something _exploded_ out of Neku's battle arena.

A massive amber hawk with glaring brown eyes soared straight towards Beat, and the skater couldn't do anything before it happened.

Talons scored down his face, ripping his throat and chest open with such a violent ferocity that even Beat was astounded.

"You killed Rose!" shrieked the bird of prey in Blake's voice.

Beat stumbled, eyes rolling in his head, his heartbeat thumping in his ears. His first thought was of Rhyme, screaming on the other end of his connection with her, and Neku's startled shouts. He swung his board almost lazily, and it connected squarely with Jason's face, releasing more of its shockwaves in the process. He used all of his strength, directing every ounce of force in his body into that single blow.

Jason slumped forward and vanished before he even hit the ground, and Beat sent Rhyme a three word message before he joined the Californian beyond whatever point Erasure was.

_"Love ya…Rhyme…"_

* * *

Uzuki's weasel form was mangled badly, the tattoos almost uncoiled. Nikki was so horribly injured that she couldn't even fly. The two Game Masters had been ripping into one another almost constantly, stopping only for one to flee the other way and then unexpectedly whirl around and exchange profanities.

The Shibuya Reaper flicked her tail idly, sending Kariya their Light Puck back. She couldn't help but smirk, since out of all the Reapers present, only they still carried the Puck from their Harrier days.

"I've fought Players in wheelchairs that were tougher than you," Uzuki mocked scathingly, her eyes narrowing to slits. Her breath rushed out quickly from between her sharp teeth, her slim muzzle scratched and torn.

"I've gotten worst insults from infants," Nikki scoffed. "What's _really_ insulting is your Conductor. He's not even attacking Monique!"

Hackles rising, Uzuki spat, "So what if he's not? Your precious Conductor can't even touch him!"

"He's a coward!"

"He's _Kariya_."

Nikki shook her platinum feathers out, drawing herself to her full imposing height. In comparison, Uzuki was much shorter, though longer, than the Singing Falcon. "Is that a lollipop in his mouth, or a pacifier? It's a good thing he has one; he's probably used to _sucking all the time_."

There were a lot of meanings behind that sentence, or at least Uzuki imagined there was, but if Nikki's tone and eyes were anything to go by, she was indeed insulting her partner and friend. "Okay, bitch, now you're _really pissing me off_," she snapped, preparing herself for another go with the Los Angeles Game Master.

"Why do you get so defensive when I bring him up?" Nikki demanded, her beak impossibly twitching into a sneer. "Do you _love_ him?"

Howling without words or reason, Uzuki barreled into her adversary and they rolled over and over. In close quarters, Uzuki's claws and teeth were especially deadly, but Nikki's beak and talons could also prove fatal. Whenever Nikki used her wings to generate a powerful wind, the weasel would hook her nails into the floor and weather it out. Then she'd launch a barrage of bullets from between her fangs, peppering the vicious Game Master with the projectiles.

But they had been fighting vigorously, and for a long time, and both of them were running out of energy. Their rolling fight brought them closer and closer to 777 and BJ, fighting Zane and Lauren the L.A. Harriers. Apparently the Californians were generating illusionary monsters that could become very real, trying to hunt down the Shibuya Reapers. However the Japanese Harriers had a sort of rock band Fusion constantly going on that fended off the creatures. The result was a checkmate, until one of them grew tired.

Uzuki lashed out with her hind paw, seeking to push their ball of teeth and talons away from the Harriers. Instead, she ended up hitting one of the fleeing Harriers—trying to get out of range--in the back of the head. She didn't know which.

Or, at least, she didn't until the brunette-blonde Harrier yelped, "Zane!"

777 struck out with his microphone, twirling it like a sword and ceasing his incessant singing. Whilst Zane was on his stomach, he stabbed his skull with it.

There was an ominous _crack_!

Lauren stared wordlessly at her fading dark brown-haired companion, and then she clenched her teeth and hands and sent a lumbering elephant Noise after BJ. The black hooded Reaper instinctively retreated, and though Uzuki's senses didn't pick up anything dangerous about the apparently very real Noise, she didn't blame him.

As he was distracted, Lauren wrenched the mike from 777 and struck BJ across his chest with it. His ethereal drum-set vanished as he fell forward, more lifeless than ever, and Uzuki's sharp eyes picked out that he had more wounds than 777 did. The lead singer wrestled the microphone from Lauren's hands, and paying no attention to the illusionary elephant, he gave a final shriek into his psyche.

The resulting shockwave sent Lauren after her partner, Zane.

"Your pretty illusions don't do anything without your buddy," 777 noted with a small level of satisfaction. He gazed wordlessly at where BJ had been before he seemed to notice Uzuki glancing at him as she mauled Nikki for _daring_ to make fun of Kariya.

Only she could do that, after all.

A bat cry from overhead alerted Uzuki to the danger that was right above her, and she slunk away hurriedly, staying close to the far wall. She had to throw a paw up to protect her face as a hawk blew past, and her peripheral vision picked out Neku running on one of the Noise planes, loudly swearing about how he didn't have a Noise form.

Monique had switched targets from Kariya when it became clear that he wasn't attacking her, and she was trying to help Nikki get rid of Uzuki. The weasel hissed and waved her claws in warning, backing into a corner since it did offer a little protection for her back, at least.

The red-eyed brown bat swooped down low and hurriedly dodged as bullets zipped through the air after her. "I can hardly imagine why you're having trouble with her," Monique noted dryly.

Nikki's feathers ruffled in agitation. "I'm _not _having trouble. Mind your own business." She shot her beak towards Uzuki, but her claws deflected it.

_I'll be damned if I lose to this bitch_, thought the Reaper-turned-Noise.

777 was reluctant to join the fight, since Reapers with Noise forms were a whole level above him. And without BJ, he was especially hesitant to assist the Shibuya Game Master.

Kariya was nowhere to be seen, oddly enough.

Uzuki swore in the universal language of the UG and HG, cursing the lazy Conductor to an unfortunate end and an eternal afterlife of living agony.

That is, until she saw him skulking directly behind Nikki and Monique, flat to the ground.

Monique opened her mouth and released a sound wave that was oddly reminiscent of a guitar. Uzuki grimaced and flinched, flinging her battered paws over her torn ears. Nikki struck her neck then, but it wasn't a fatal blow, and the stubborn weasel weathered the pain with a scowl on her face.

Kariya's nine tails became sharp, like daggers, and with his lollipop still firmly in place, he shot all of them into Nikki from behind, and they emerged from the opposite side, spotless.

Nikki gurgled in shock, and then her form began wavering with static. Monique cried out in horror, and then she was only a blur as she clamped her teeth around Uzuki's throat until they met.

Uzuki struggled vainly, but she knew she was beaten. Still, she hooked her talons into one wing and began scraping and scratching at it until a cloudy void of black-white-gray claimed her vision, and she knew no more.

* * *

"That was a cowardly move!"

"I guess it was, but she called me a coward, didn't she?"

"I'm going to murder you!"

"Well, I'm already dead, but good luck with that."

Some part of Neku that wasn't paying attention to fighting for his after-life was amused by the conversation between Kariya and Monique. But he was only dimly aware of this, since Blake's huge hawk was soaring after him with an insatiable anger in his eyes.

Neku prayed that Erasure here wasn't permanent. He recalled the Angel's rule about no Erasure, but he didn't trust it. Not with Shiki already static and gone. His trust in a lot of people was wearing thin, especially his belief in a certain Composer…

_"Neku, are you okay?"_ Rhyme's anxious voice sounded for a second like Shiki's in his ears, and the Proxy shook himself. He was just daydreaming, wishing his favorite Partner was with him…

"Miss your poor cat?" Blake taunted above him, dipping down in an effort to spear him. Neku discouraged this with a warning shot of fire.

"Rot in hell," Neku spat, his lungs heaving with every step he took. He could sense Rhyme's irritation that she was in the sister Noise realm, but she was intent on helping him from there. The problem was, Blake's mirror counterpart was purposely avoiding her, and she didn't want to get involved with Kariya's Conductor-level duel with Monique.

"Argh, stand still!" The Noise bat hissed, and Neku heard the scrape of claws against tiles.

"Just missed me, but you'll get it," Kariya urged lightly.

Neku turned to face Blake as he landed with a _thump_ behind him. Massive wings spread wide and almost knocked the Proxy over. A cruel beak slammed into the floor and just barely missed.

_I can't take any more of this. I've never been more exhausted in my life._

He dodged, countering with a wall of fire that deterred the hawk for a few seconds. Regardless, Blake mocked, "Feeling a little tired, are we?"

This wasn't the first time he had commented on Neku's emotions. It was almost like he could pick up on his vibe without using a Player Pin, but there was no way to know for sure. He could just be psyching him out, for all he knew.

Neku scowled, and he turned to run again, only to be knocked into the wall by one of Blake's amber wings. He hit it with enough force to scatter his thoughts and breath, and the boy struggled to his feet in time to see a huge hooked talon sailing towards him. Blake's eyes gleamed with victory, the feathers around his face almost resembling that of spectacles.

There was a flash of light, and something reflected the claws with a musical _ting!_

He gawked in pained shock as Shiki clambered onto his shoulder, crouching there near his wide blue collar with an oddly sheepish expression.

He set five different sections of Blake on fire while he was frozen in surprise. "Where _were_ you?" Neku demanded, no real malice in his tone. He was just relieved to see her, and he would admit—to her anyway—that he had been afraid that she had left him for good.

_"I can't believe this. Blake is purposely trying to escape me."_ Rhyme sounded more frustrated than Neku had ever heard before.

_"I've got it, don't worry about it." _Or, at least, he _hoped_ he did.

Neku had a crazy plan forming. From what he knew of Blake, he was cocky and arrogant. That could be used against him. "Shiki, I'm about to try something stupid," he informed her as the great Singing Hawk recovered from the flames.

The brown cat gave him a look that said, _"Don't you always?"_

Smiling despite himself, Neku evaded another beak and talon jab, letting a curved green boomerang fly from his fingertips. He then pretended that his legs gave out from under him, and he landed flat on his chest, letting his eyes fall half-closed. Shiki stirred anxiously, tugging at his orange hair in a very convincing matter.

Blake shuffled towards him, head lowered, somehow grinning with a bird's stiff beak. "My, how the mighty have fallen!"

Neku gave no reply.

"Beat a Conductor, huh? Taboo Game Master? Three Weeks of the Game? They must have different standards of greatness over there in Japan. But, we know the real winner here. Nice Game though, Neku." Blake pulled his head back for the strike—

--and Neku sprang up, threw all of his remaining vigor into his Scythe Pin, and used the glittering gray substance to cleave the hawk's head from his body.

Static instantly consumed the great Noise bird, and Neku slouched over, hand on his knees, watching with a hooded gaze as Blake staggered towards him. His form was starting to disintegrate.

Neku waited for him to say something, but his expression was unreadable as he gazed at Shibuya's Proxy. He mumbled something that sounded like, "You were right, Rose."

Then he was gone.

Forcing himself to glance away, Neku spotted Kariya. The fox had pinned down the bat, and though he was bleeding particles heavily, he stabbed her with his nine tails. She said something to Kariya that he couldn't hear, and then she was gone too.

Shibuya had won. Barely. With most of their numbers gone and the remaining ones almost dead—Kariya looked like he was barely holding himself together.

Neku finally let himself slump forward, and Shibuya's star Player gave in to the shadows on the edges of his vision.

Two worried voices, both female, called at once, "Neku!"

* * *

"Wake up, Neku dearest."

Neku gasped and sat up, and he found himself still in the Angel Palace. Shiki was beside him, looking relieved that he was awake. The white walled room was the same huge chamber they had fought Romani in, and the L.A. Team. Joshua was the only other person present; the rest of the area was empty.

"What happened?" He asked groggily. At least his wounds were healed, but he didn't feel exactly _rested_.

"You won, naturally." Joshua looked smug.

"…Are the others—"

"No, no. The Erasure is not permanent. They're in your old rooms, along with the Los Angeles group. They're going to watch your Final Challenge."

Slowly, Neku repeated, "_My_ Final Challenge?"

"That's right. You're one Challenge away from resurrecting Shiki. Isn't that what you wanted?" Joshua said this in such an enticing fashion that the Proxy couldn't resist a meaningful look with Shiki.

Rising, Neku crossed his arms. "Fine. Bring it on. What can possibly be worse than what we've done already? Fought an Angel, a whole team of foreigners, what else? God himself?"

Joshua laughed. "Actually, Neku…"

He paled. "You_ cannot_ be serious."

"Oh, but I am." Purple eyes met blue. "Neku, you get to fight me."

And he said it like it was a prize.

* * *

**_Heads up, special thanks to RawkstarVienna for the use of her L.A. characters--I almost felt bad that I had to make them lose--and to James Firebrand for Beta-ing, as always. Also, Fanfiction dot net has cruelly removed my normal page breakers but I have been informed that they should return in a few days as they finish something._**

**_Thanks to you all for reading/reviewing/favoriting/story alerting, and we have only two more chapters to go! I appreciate your support despite my update times._**


	12. Challenge Three: Cantus Lupus and Draco

**Chapter Eleven: Neku VS Joshua**

_Challenge Three: Cantus Lupus and Cantus Draco_

Neku's world fell away; all he was aware of was Joshua. "What?" He rasped.

Joshua repeated his statement. "You get to fight me. One on one."

"You're the Composer." He said incredulously.

"You're my Proxy," Joshua answered quietly, fingers forming an arch.

Shiki worriedly tugged on his collar, but Neku was too stunned to notice. Joshua looked around the room casually, utterly nonchalant.

Joshua said coolly, "Remember the Pins you won from the cities?"

Neku felt them in his pocket, and he remembered how they seemingly lacked their psyches. "Yeah." He forced himself to look Joshua in the eyes.

The boy sighed, and Neku saw his shoulders slump. Did he, or did he not, want to do this? Did he always know about this? "You can use them now," he murmured. "They'll be the key to unlocking your Noise. Did you…did you feel any pain in your back or shoulders during your stay in the Palace, Neku?"

"I did…" Dawning comprehension reached Neku's mind. "They kept me from transforming."

"Because as Proxy, your Noise will be the most dangerous. If you went out of control…well, Neku, that's why I had Rhyme give you the Pins whenever she won."

"But Blake was a Proxy, and he had a Noise."

"The Angels are particularly wary of _your_ Noise. They modified your Pins to prevent your Noise from emerging."

"So you want me to try _using_ them?" _Are the Angels afraid of me?_ Neku thought, stunned.

Joshua smiled. "I doubt you have a ghost of a chance of beating me without your Noise. Go ahead. I want to see what Noise your Soul breeds."

In that huge, featureless white room where so much chaos and pain had occurred, Neku removed his Pins and stared at them. Venice, New York, Paris, Sydney and Vancouver. The Rialto Bridge, the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, the seaside port with the fireworks above it, and the looming mountains. Neku looked up. "No."

"No?"

"I want to see your Noise first." It was an excuse, because in truth, Neku didn't know if he wanted to see his Noise or not. He didn't want to fight his best friend. He didn't want any of this.

Joshua smirked and took several steps back. As he spoke, his tone became steadily harder until it was as sharp as a sword point at the end. "Do you know what the perfume does to a Composer? Neku, I can't get a Noise because I already have one. No, Neku, the perfume will probably make me lose control of my Noise. And I _haven't used my Noise in years_!"

His Proxy was flabbergasted. Joshua's voice had risen just a pitch short of a yell. "What?"

"I'm going to be…mostly, not in control of my actions. I may kill you, Neku."

"I won't—"

"No. If one of us falls here, we will not come back."

"I won't kill you, Josh." Neku said resolutely.

Joshua smiled sadly. "If you don't, Neku, I very well might kill you."

"You're stronger than that."

"Your faith means a lot." With that, Joshua's wings spread out from behind him. They were like a pair of Reaper wings surrounded in a veil of white feathers. The harsh black in the middle clashed heavily with the angelic plumes that were all around it. As Neku watched, awestruck, bramble-like bands, the color of ivory and molten gold, began to work their way around Joshua's body.

Neku continued to observe everything, even with his heart ricocheting off of his ribs in over time. The Composer's frame vanished underneath the tattoos, and something much more elongated began to take form. Though it took a little while longer than a normal transformation from a Reaper, the result was worth it. Neku finally saw what Joshua's Noise was.

It was a dragon.

It easily beat out Megumi's or the monstrosity chimera that was Romani's. Joshua's dragon Noise was long and elegant, like a serpent, with a golden underside and golden claws. The paws were yellow tribal markings, as was the tail, and his wings still existed, but in a larger glory on his back. The face was thinner than Megumi's had been, with feathers ringing the back of his head like a lion's mane. The only thing that Neku recognized in the ivory dragon was the eyes. The bright, violet eyes of Shibuya's only Composer.

Neku saw that Joshua was _hovering_. His paws never touched the ground, though his wings never churned the air to keep him aloft, either. The dragon smirked—Neku swore it—and Joshua spoke without actually opening his mouth.

_"Happy now?"_

The annoyance in his tone made Neku smile a little, but now he knew there was no more delaying. He had to win…anything for Shiki to turn back to normal, right?

He realized that Shiki had vanished into thin air, and was a little saddened. But she was always with him…wasn't she?

Neku closed his hand around the mass of Pins and felt the pulse of their psyches, unlike any he had ever felt before. He pulled them all out at once, and let the transformation begin.

The pain on his shoulders and back had returned, and it reached a fever pitch. A pair of black, blue tinged Reaper wings climbed into the air, and Neku saw their pointy tips out of the corners of his eyes. Bands of blue and orange made their way onto his legs and face, arms and chest, constricting him painfully. They increased in number, until Neku could barely think straight through the pain.

If Joshua's metamorphosis hurt this much, no wonder he didn't do it often. It was unbearable.

When the agony no longer defeated his tired brain's thought processes, Neku realized he was completely healed. The wounds—he had forgotten them in his shock at Joshua's announcement—were gone. Now he dared to open his eyes and see what his Soul looked like.

The first thing he saw was blue. They were his own clawed paws, made out of graffiti. They wove together into a mesh of dangerous spikes and bristles. He turned and saw his shoulders were marked with the Reaper's skull insignia, a strange white and black symbol against the blue of his fur. His legs, all four of them, were composed of tattoos. His spiny turquoise and obsidian wings were still on his back and Neku could see this both by looking behind him, and by staring at the reflective ivory floor. The floor showed a canine face with a wild mane of orange, and his own sapphire eyes looked back at him.

He felt so full of energy and vigor that he could have run around the world without being tired. The draining battle against Blake seemed like a distant memory.

_"A wolf Noise. Interesting."_ Joshua's voice was oddly strained. _"Are you ready, Neku? To fight me for Shiki? One final Game?"_

Neku looked up and bunched his muscles, ready to spring aside if need be. _"I'm ready."_

Joshua closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, they seemed to flare brighter. _"This perfume was apparently made by the likes of Romani to stop…Composers…from holding back. This is the last warning, Neku."_

Neku jerked his head in a nod.

Joshua swooped into the air and then plummeted down, fast as a bullet, aiming for the wolf. For Neku.

* * *

Rhyme collapsed onto the bed with a weary sigh, feeling as if she could sleep for an eternity. She opened her eyes and saw Beat standing near her, with Eri slumped against the corner, eyes half open. They looked terrible, with drawn faces and haggard eyes. The Los Angeles Players—the Reapers had gone—were clustered on the other side of the room, looking no better. Their Composer was nowhere in sight.

She couldn't take the _waiting_. Rhyme didn't know whether to be worried for Joshua or Neku. Her insides squirmed and her mind seemed to be working both fast _and_ slow, clogging up her thoughts. They had no way of knowing what was going on. She'd kill to see what was occurring during the fight. Who was winning? How would Neku survive against a Composer, when he had almost been dead on his feet?

The questions were pointless, because in all actuality, there were no answers.

The morbid silence was broken as Vienna strode into the room, clutching an oval mirror in her hand. She placed it against an empty wall, and Rhyme lifted her head curiously to watch. Colors shifted across the mirror, and then it cleared to reveal a detailed image of a ginger and azure wolf battling a skydiving gold and white dragon.

Rhyme got up with a frenzied energy and knelt beside the screen with everyone else clustered around her. Vienna said in a somewhat amused tone, "I'm cheering for Neku."

Rhyme's heart didn't know who to cheer for—her best friend, or Neku. So she decided there was, once again, nothing she could do.

But watch.

* * *

Neku evaded at the last moment, twisting around with a snarl. Joshua pulled up before his muzzle hit the ground, claws outstretched, aiming to rend the Proxy's face. The wolf crouched low so that the attack missed, and then countered with his own talons, succeeding in only slicing air.

The dragon circled overhead, then unleashed a stream of white fire. Neku dodged again, bounding so fast that the world became a blur. With a jolt of surprise, he realized he could still feel the tug of the Pins, though they didn't seem to be on his person. Regardless, he pulled on the familiar psyche of the Scythe Pin. His own energy mixed with the Pin's, increasing it tenfold. Instead of a razor sharp, thin band of compressed force, a gleaming blaze of power rocketed out in reaction to his movements. It caught the Composer by surprise, leaving a diagonal mark on the dragon's face.

The dragon—Neku had trouble thinking of it has Joshua, his best friend—spiraled in a dizzying pattern through the sky. Corkscrewing still, more flames erupted from his mouth until he was a typhoon of embers. The tornado caught Neku and threw him into the air, scorching his fur and tattoos. Reaching into the cold fire and kicking Joshua's scaly form, he sent him back down to the ground. The Proxy landed lightly, tail thrashing, but the Composer came to a gentle halt only an inch off the floor. Those familiar purple eyes locked with his.

_"Is that all?"_

Neku bared his teeth and raced forward, calling another Pin. He didn't remember bringing a lightning Pin, and yet he summoned a bolt of the electricity down from the heavens. It stuck in the ground at a comical angle before releasing a huge shockwave.

Joshua glided through it and descended again, mauling Neku's back and tearing through the fur to release blood. Neku whipped around and caught the dragon's tail before it went out of range. Biting down savagely, he spun in a circle and then bit through the tattoo bands all together. With a chunk of his tail missing, Joshua spun wildly through the air before kicking off the far wall and firing a ball of ivory energy.

Neku batted it back with a paw. It was an instinctive thing; he hadn't expected it to work. Joshua returned it, and the sphere went back and forth more times than Neku cared to remember. It was almost like the ultimate tennis match.

Charging it with his own signature power—the icy cold that let him access the Music—Neku shot it back once more. This time Joshua performed a totally unnecessary aerial loop to dodge it, sliding to a stop in midair. Neku performed the same leap Uzuki used to tug Nikki out of the sky, and he pressed the dragon underneath him. He tried to bite Joshua's neck, but he hesitated a moment before his teeth met. A moment was all Joshua needed, and he battered at Neku's stomach with his hind claws until the wolf pulled away.

_Damn it_, Neku thought wearily. He hadn't wanted to kill his friend, the mere thought made him sick to his stomach. Shaking his furry head, he concentrated on raining down meteoric rocks and dangerous icicles that Joshua weaved through easily. He gave a tremendous psychic push, and the power forced Joshua to the earth. The dragon struggled, and the telekinetic energy began to lift. Neku sank his teeth into Joshua's wings and pulled, ripping away a good portion of the protective white feathers. They left an odd taste in his mouth, like blood and sugar, but he didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it before Joshua whirled around and used his tail to trip him.

_"If _that's_ how you want to play."_

The dragon bit Neku's own wings, and the pain was unlike anything he had ever felt, a deep agony. His power was in his wings, after all. The wolf surged up and pulled away, quickly lacerating one of Joshua's paws. The tattoos broke, and then weaved themselves into an inelegant knot in an effort to repair themselves. Joshua and Neku stared at each other levelly for a few heartbeats as they tried to catch their breaths.

"Josh…please…I don't want to fight you."

_"I don't have a choice in this matter, Neku."_

"What? What will the Angels do if you don't?"

_"I agreed to follow their rules, as part of the Tournament. And in this Challenge, I have to fight you."_

"If you don't?" Neku repeated stubbornly.

The dragon's lips pulled back in a fanged smirk. There was little more disturbing to Neku than the sight of the Noise giggling. _"Why, I get Erased."_

Neku barely leaped back in time as Joshua brought his claws crashing down on the spot he had stood a few moments before. There was an insane edge to Joshua's laughter now.

_This is barely Joshua—it _isn't_ Joshua. Even _he _can't fight an Angel's influence, _Neku thought frantically. He backpedalled, claws scraping the ground, before turning tail to escape a wave of ivory fire.

He sprinted as fast as he possibly could, running circles around the dragon, and he thought something good could come from Joshua's (hopefully) temporary madness.

Normally, Neku knew he couldn't beat Joshua. He was too experienced and cunning. But maybe with his normal state of mind altered so drastically, he had a hope of defeating him. He ran into the dragon's thin chest unexpectedly, charging him into the wall. Neku sank his teeth and claws into Joshua's frame, ignoring the cascade of blows that came down across his shoulders and back. He heaved, using a Pin to increase the distance he tossed his foe.

"Joshua," Neku said sadly as the dragon actually hit the ground and skidded on his stomach with a hiss of fury. "Why do we always end up as enemies?"

Joshua's eyes opened, and Neku recognized the silvery pink mark of Romani in his pupils. The purple was almost entirely eclipsed.

_That Angel...she must still be alive!_

"You're stronger than this! Fight it, Josh!" Neku urged. He watched the dragon heave himself to his paws, shake his head, and only replied with an ear shattering roar.

_Has he really been defeated?_

Neku had thought Joshua was...invincible. It was how he acted, and how the boy had grudgingly seen the Composer. He missed his friend. Regardless, he forced himself to fight. Hooking his claws between Joshua's front paws, he pulled back, using the Scythe Pin to increase his damage. The bands broke with a resounding crack, but in return Neku was rewarded with a blast of fire to the face. He stumbled away, trying to stop the flames from spreading, and Joshua tackled him to the ground.

**_It was me._**

Neku scratched, swore, gnashed his teeth and struggled.

**_All of it._**

He kicked Joshua off of him, but by the time he stood up, the dragon had dive bombed and he was on his stomach as exploding agony fried his mind.

**_I'm Shibuya's Composer._**

Neku flipped onto his back, pressing the wriggling dragon under him, then turned around and started shredding the feathery membrane of Joshua's white Reaper wings.

**_Hey, did I mention?_**

Joshua cried out, but Neku was too into the fight to care. The dragon and the wolf wrestled savagely, eye to eye, aiming for the sensitive wings.

**_I've got_**_ friends** now!**_

Neku summoned his own fire to deal with Joshua's, and he jumped clear through the white and orange flames to deliver a blow to the dragon's head, leaving a five pronged gash that bled profusely.

**_We're getting together for the first time in a week!_**

Joshua's long tail—it was almost the length of his body!—snaked up and wrapped around Neku's neck. The wolf solved the problem by setting fire to his own fur, and when the dragon let go, the Proxy changed that fire to ice and sent the shards into his enemy's body. Joshua melted them off and grabbed Neku by his shoulders, lifting him into the air, as if he weighed nothing.

**_…See you there?_**

Neku twisted and tried to reach him, but Joshua was at the wrong angle. The dragon burned his head and back before hurtling towards the ground at a terrifying speed.

**_But Neku, I thought you couldn't afford to lose._**

Despite how fast they hit the floor, Neku got up quickly. He bit Joshua's tail, what was left of it, and dragged the dragon around the room. He was careful to turn sharply, so that the Composer's head hit the wall every time.

**_Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world._**

Joshua tried to stop, setting his claws down. That only succeeded in creating glittering sparks that hung in the white room like fiery stars before fading. Neku suddenly whipped around and brutally placed his paw on the dragon's head, bashing the skull to the floor.

**_But still…_**

Joshua was dazed only for a moment, and then he retaliated by causing the feathers that crowned his head to form a divine barrier. Neku was startled and retreated as the ivory plumes protected the Composer, and the dragon staggered to his feet, smoke curling from his nose, pink and silver eyes shining. He opened his jaws and let out some more white fire, and Neku had no choice but to scamper frantically around the room to dodge it.

**_I don't think I can forgive you yet._**

The instant the shield faded, Neku sprang, claws outstretched, to land on Joshua's back. He then finally succeeded in removing the feathers on the dragon's right wing, and he bit down hard, jerking his head back and removing one of the spines.

Joshua thrashed, snarling in a voice that had no trace of humanity in it. Had he really lost himself that much?

**_Let's have one last Game—_**

Neku almost completely removed the wing from its socket, instead tearing off more and more chunks. The dragon bucked him off and in one swoop, sliced off half of Neku's left wing. The wolf almost went unconscious; instead he howled his pain, which echoed in the room like the lament of the dead.

**_-to determine who will be Composer of Shibuya._**

They clashed again, and Joshua slashed and bit off Neku's left wing until it was only a bluish black stump. In a matter of heartbeats, the Composer's own right wing was in the same state.

**_You win; you decide what will happen to Shibuya._**

Their struggles were becoming weaker and weaker, their blows only about one twentieth of the strength experienced before.

**_I win, I decide._**

Neku rolled onto his side and became still, and Joshua wasn't even twitching, only two feet away.

**_Of course, I've already decided._**

Wearily, Neku accessed the Music. He could feel the overwhelming dissonance notes from Joshua's Song, and finally possessing the time to heal it, he did exactly that, throwing the last of his energy into the process.

**_Learning to trust people…having that trust broken._**

Neku's eyes closed.

**_Only by allowing strangers in, can we find new ways to be ourselves._**

Joshua's opened.

* * *

It had been difficult, to say the least. It had been very difficult, hiding the truth from Rhyme—and she was an observant girl—and the others. The perfume had often messed up his normal thoughts, but now it was clear.

Gone. Even _he_ couldn't clear his own discord notes, but someone had. Neku.

Joshua had never been in more pain, ever, in his entire afterlife. Dying had been better than this. He opened his eyes, his mind feeling better than it had in a week, and he saw Neku laying a couple of feet away. The psyche controlling wolf's eyes were shut tight, tongue lolling almost comically from his mouth, covered in gashes and wounds. He was nearly dead.

Hell, Joshua himself was almost dead. He struggled to his paws—when was the last time he used his Noise form?—and limped heavily toward his Proxy. He settled beside him, pressing his own scales to Neku's fur. He placed his head down, so close that his head feathers brushed the wolf's ears, and he closed his eyes again.

Close contact made accessing Neku's Song much easier, and the chaotic but melodic jumble of notes were almost completely gone. Shiki's small mix existed only as seven single, pure symbols in his mind. They were both nearly out. Joshua sighed, dragging his remaining reserves of strength and passing it to his Proxy.

Neku's Song got a jump start, and in reaction, so did Shiki's. He stirred and opened his eyes, obviously surprised to see Joshua so near him that they were touching.

"What…?"

Joshua made no effort to move, and neither did Neku. _"You cleared away Romani's influence, Neku. Even I couldn't clean it. How?"_

It seemed a simple question, _how_, but it really wasn't. He could tell by his expression, Neku didn't know.

"Did I win? Or lose?"

_"Neither. We're both still alive. One of us has to lose."_

"I forfeit!" Neku rasped, his lupine face twitching in agitation. "I don't want to fight you, Josh."

_"I don't really feel like challenging you, either."_

"Would it be so bad if Vienna had won?" He complained, forcing himself into a sitting position and resting on his haunches.

Joshua still continued to lie flat on his stomach. _"Vienna? I don't know. She's not exactly an enemy of mine, but nor is she a friend."_

"Like me?" Neku's tone was bitter. "Is that why you can fight me so easily? Shoot and kill me? Twice?"

The dragon closed his eyes again. He wouldn't understand, but in order to placate his Proxy, Joshua said quietly, _"No, Neku. You're a friend."_

Silence.

Joshua spoke without bothering to lift his eyelids. _"Go ahead and strike me now, Neku. I couldn't fight, even if I wanted to."_

"No."

_"Don't be stubborn. It's the only way to bring Shiki back."_

"No." Neku's voice sounded a little shaken though.

Heaving a sigh, the dragon spoke as if it killed him to say the next words. _"I know Shiki is the most important to you out of your friends. You want her back safe?"_

The wolf wordlessly nodded.

_"I can't untangle her from your Music and Soul, only you, yourself, can. Neku, the only way you do that is if you win."_

"How? Shouldn't you be Archangel?"

Joshua's head lifted, but the simple motion made his muscles scream in protest. _"It's complicated, Neku. You'll understand if you just finish it."_ He opened his violet eyes and locked with his Proxy's—and friend's—distressed sapphire pair.

The wolf stood slowly, raising his formidable claws, and Joshua placed his head back down.

Smirking inwardly.

Neku aimed for Joshua's neck, and after a moment of hesitation, descended.

* * *

Neku brought his claws to a stop a millimeter above the scaly ivory neck of his friend. He…couldn't. There had to be another way! Why did he have to choose between his two dearest friends? Shiki, the girl he might…_like-like_…or Joshua, the boy that he couldn't even properly explain, but he felt strangely bonded to?

"I can't," he breathed setting down his claws. "I can't."

A harmony of voices, both male and female, suddenly spoke all at once. _"And that is why you pass."_

In the air, a dozen figures floated. They wore robes of various shades, starting from white on the right, and black on the left. They had a more benevolent air than any Angel Neku had been in the presence in thus far, and they looked down kindly on the two nearly dead friends.

_"Yoshiya, you have proven yourself to be cunning and powerful before…but you also have the wisdom to choose a friend that cannot bring himself to slaughter you, no matter what you do. You can guide and lead a team, you have earned the trust and affection of those working with you, and when it comes to picking a Proxy…you are unrivaled. Your Games have generated some of the best results we have had the pleasure of viewing." _Like one entity, they all waved their hands. Neku and Joshua lifted into the air, about halfway to the ceiling, to the Angels' height. A cooling energy suffused their beings, and suddenly they felt invigorated, as if they had rested for months. Neku and Joshua both left their Noise forms, and the city Pins clattered from Neku's hands and onto the floor below.

Turning, Neku looked into Joshua's eyes, and the Composer smiled without a trace of his usual smirk. It was a welcome change, even if it wasn't permanent. "Well played, Neku. You did exactly what I thought you would."

Unable to form a coherent sentence regarding that, Neku asked instead, "What about Shiki?"

The Angels inclined their heads. _"When you are given Composer rank, O Cantus Lupus, you will be able to restore her without any difficulty."_

"You don't understand. I don't want to be Composer. I just want to live a normal life."

The reply was genuinely apologetic. _"It is not your choice to make. Yoshiya has appointed you his Proxy."_

"Josh?" Neku turned. "Can't you…why not…" He couldn't properly phrase his question.

Shibuya's only Composer sighed. "Neku, I know you didn't want this. And I apologize. So I have a way out of you being Composer."

"Really?" He was skeptical this time, even floating in the air, in the presence of a dozen ethereal beings. "Does it involve me being the Conductor, Game Master, or any other class of Reaper?"

Joshua shook his head.

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Joshua smirked a little, and then addressed the Angels. "I have a suggestion. Can I make another Archangel, in my stead?"

The reply was surprisingly swift. _"If you feel another is worthy to ascend, then it is your right, as Champion of the Tournament, to pick another."_

Neku swore they almost sounded _relieved._

"I choose Sanae Hanekoma."

Neku gasped as a murmur of "the Fallen Angel" flowed from the lips of the Angels. The hooded beings respectfully bowed. _"If you wish it, then so shall it be. But surely you know what happens now?"_

"Certainly." Joshua formed an arch with his fingers. "Neku, you are the new Producer of Shibuya."

The stunned boy could barely process the sentence. "Wait, what? _What?_"

"As 'CAT' as shown, it is possible to lead a life in the RG while one is Producer. You will only have to write reports on Shibuya's current state occasionally, and perform minor checks into the UG. Besides that, you have little else to do."

Neku's mouth worked briefly before he closed it and cleared his throat, trying again. "I can still fix Shiki, right?" It was almost like his brain had shut down. However, he was still determined to bring Shiki back, no matter what happened to him. It was his fault she was a cat, or so he told himself.

_"Indeed, O Cantus Lupus."_

"Why do you call me that?" Relief was surging through him. It was over. Shiki would be coming back, and being Producer wasn't nearly as bad as being Composer…Even if he still didn't want to be it. He wasn't sure how to get out of it, though, but he'd find someone else willing to be Producer. Somehow.

_"You are the Singing Wolf."_ The reply was simple. The Angels added, _"We will call the one known as Sanae Hanekoma. We offer you our congratulations."_

The Angels vanished, and they landed lightly on the floor. Neku never wanted to see the Angel Palace again. The events of the morning—the battle with Cantus Tranquillus and the Los Angeles Players—seemed like a lifetime ago.

"What now, Josh?" He asked at last, turning to his friend.

Joshua began walking out of the hall, with Neku behind. "Now? I don't know about you…but I'm going to see Rhyme."

* * *

**_Very special thanks to James Firebrand for Beta-ing, as always, and to RawkstarVienna for her reminders that there is indeed a story here that needs updating._**

**_All unexplained events will be covered in the upcoming epilogue, but I hope this battle was to your liking!_**

**_Reviews for this chapter in particular is greatly appreciated!_**


	13. Day Zero: The Expected Unexpected

**Epilogue: State of Affairs**

_Day Zero: The Expected Unexpected_

Neku was grateful for the existence of Koki Kariya at that moment. He really was.

The orange-haired Reaper had agreed to take the position of Producer for Shibuya. He was, according to the Angel that had listened to Neku's request, "overqualified".

That, unfortunately, left the position of Conductor open. Neku argued furiously with Joshua, who seemed to fancy the idea of him as his second-in-command, but eventually the Composer relented and asked Uzuki if _she_ would take the job.

The female Reaper had spluttered in amazement, unable to comprehend the fact that she had been promoted straight from Game Master to _Conductor_. It was something she'd never expected to get, and she went at her new job with gusto.

"But who'll be Game Master now?" Shiki had inquired, her brown eyes worried. She clearly didn't want Neku involved with the Game in any way possible.

"I'll find someone," Joshua shrugged, unconcerned. "Though if Neku really wants…"

"Bite me."

Neku was adamant about one thing though—he wanted answers. All of them. From the little things to the big things, there were a lot of issues that needed to be resolved. However, Joshua just giggled and told him he would have to find out the truth from Mr. Hanekoma, because his lips were sealed.

"My absence has left Shibuya a little…" The blonde boy tossed a hand as he searched for the right word. "Inconvenienced. So unless you need anything else, I'll be seeing you, dear."

"I'm not your dear," Neku growled, stalking off whilst the Composer merely laughed.

~*X*~

Two uneventful days passed, and after the excitement of the Tournament, Neku found that the monotony was…unbearable. He tugged at his earphones with a frown, deciding to stop by WildKat again in the vain hope that Mr. H was around.

To his shock, when he actually managed to make it through the crowds to the café's glass door, there was a woman waiting for him. She had a cup of coffee in her hands, smiling with an unmistakably friendly air about her. However, Neku had interacted with the Underground and Higherground too much to not recognize an Angel when he saw one.

She was taller than Mr. Hanekoma, probably not by a lot but still, with raven-black hair to her waist and cyan eyes. There was something about her tanned skin that reminded him of someone…

"You're from Los Angeles," he remarked bluntly, closing the door behind him. The scent of coffee and doughnuts wreathed around him, and the shop was a little warm thanks to the sunlight that flowed in through the windows.

Taking a sip of her drink, she nodded cheerfully at him. "That's right."

"What do you want? I'm done with all that Tournament crap now, aren't I?" Neku crossed his arms and leaned against the door, his gaze shrewd and slightly wary. He didn't completely trust Joshua, least of all anyone _above_ him. Except for, of course, Sanae Hanekoma.

"I thought you might want some of your questions answered," she commented with a grin. "Sanae will be here later, but in the meantime…"

"Who are you?"

"Lacey. I'm the Producer of Los Angeles. And you're Neku Sakuraba! That Proxy of Joshua's I've heard so much about. It's great to finally meet you."

Neku studied her offered hand warily before shaking it. She seemed harmless enough. "You're going to answer my questions? Really?" He asked sardonically. "What's the catch?"

"Not a single one. If I know the answers, you get the answers. Free of charge." Lacey took another gulp of her coffee. "So, shoot!"

He hesitated, shuffling through his memories for the most pressing issue. "Why did the Angels let Shiki get Erased? Why didn't they heal her?"

"Ah…you see…" She rolled her eyes, and he saw something like irritation on her face. "The rest of the Angels, they're frightened of you."

"_Frightened_? Of me?"

"Yup. They're scared out of their wits."

His gaze narrowed. "And you're not?"

"Nope." She paused to get herself a refill of coffee, humming merrily as if they were simply old friends.

"What's that got to do with Shiki?" Neku demanded coldly.

"You're at your strongest when you have your best Partner," Lacey pointed out, placing a spoon in her mug and stirring. "Not counting Joshua, of course, and Beat works best with Rhyme. Now, they're cautious of Rhyme, but _you_, well…" She smiled. "You're strong, intelligent, and worst of all you are capable of breaking our precious rules. They don't like wild cards, and if you had lost against Artem, they'd probably not have brought you back either on an imagined technicality. Luckily, there are a few Angels on your side."

Neku blinked three times in quick succession. The Angels weren't as good and heavenly as they acted, the cowardly bastards. "But that's just it. What makes me special?"

Lacey checked her watch, her expression amused and her tone excited, as if she found this whole discussion particularly interesting. "Sanae can tell you that in a bit. Anything else _I_ can answer though?"

It was hard, coming up with questions on the spot. Ironic considering the fact that his brain had been buzzing for hours with riddles. "Eri. What makes her special?"

"Special?"

"Didn't someone say her Psyche was 'special'?"

She tapped her nails against the counter. "Hmm…oh, her Imagination fluctuates. A lot. It's such a weird and unusual thing, because normally Imagination either rises or lowers over time. Eri's, it changes depending on her current mood, I think."

"So if she's happy…?"

"Her Psyche is, most likely, stronger." Lacey paused, her head tilted to the side slightly. "Sanae's here, and now I've got to get back to L.A. before Vienna causes some kind of war with someone."

"Has she done that before?" Neku queried wryly, though his head was spinning with the revelations he had just learned.

"Well…later, Neku!" The female Angel waved before disappearing from right in front of his eyes.

"She took the cup with her, didn't she? I lose more cups that way," a familiar voice chuckled behind him.

The Proxy whipped around with a startled gasp to see Mr. Hanekoma standing right next to him, obviously not having had used the door. The barista had his hands in his pockets, and if it was possible, seemed to be even _more_ relaxed than usual.

"Mr. H! I didn't think the Angels would let you come down."

He arched an eyebrow. "I'm their boss, Phones. I'll come down if I want to. Now, if I understand it, you've got a few questions, right?"

Neku collected himself, nodding. "Lacey said the Angels are afraid of me, because I'm 'special'. What does that even _mean_?"

Hanekoma stroked his chin before sighing. "Josh didn't tell you, did he? It's not _that_ big a secret."

"What isn't?" He growled.

"Simply put, you're an Anomaly, Phones." He said this in a laidback, casual manner. Like they were discussing the weather.

"…A what?"

"Anomaly. Irregularity, Abnormality…Glitch." He snapped his fingers. "There we go. You're a Glitch, an error in the program."

"I'm…a Glitch? In the UG?" Neku tried to puzzle this one out. "But _how_?"

Sanae snickered. "If we knew _how_, you'd not be a Glitch, Phones."

"…What makes me a Glitch?"

_And how in the name of God can I be a Glitch? A Glitch in some crazy ass game over _death_?_

"We think you're arranged differently," Hanekoma replied after a few seconds of thought. "You see, say the world is made out of four colors. Let's use blue, red, white, and black. Everyone else uses that exact pattern—blue, red, white, black. You? You use white, black, blue, and red, or some variation of that. You're made out of the same stuff as everyone else, but…"

"I'm arranged differently, so the same rules don't apply?"

"They either don't apply or have trouble applying. Understand where I'm going with this, Phones?"

Neku nodded slowly. "I think I do…is that why I couldn't read all of the signs in the UG?"

"That's it," Mr. H grinned. "Same energy, unique arrangement. Your corporal self in the UG is entirely set apart from the rest."

"So. I'm a freak?"

Laughing, Sanae ruffled his hair, causing the boy to scowl and try to rearrange his orange spikes. "Not a freak, Phones. Just different. You're your own thing, you do your own thing, and you live your own thing. The Angels don't like exceptions, it makes them feel insecure."

"Do you feel insecure?" Neku asked, completely floored by the new knowledge he had just gained. An Anomaly. A Glitch…he was, truly, one in several billion he supposed.

"Me? Nah. I think it's good to have someone outside of the HG's net, if you catch my drift."

"Why wouldn't Josh just_ tell_ me this?"

His irritation apparently amused Hanekoma. "Josh hates explaining things, and he guards his secrets."

"Right…" Neku stared out the WildKat's window, watching the Shibuya streets. "Can I tell Shiki and everyone…?"

"Sure, why not? You tell them what you want, Phones. I've got to get goin' soon, got to straighten out this mess with Rosalie…"

_Well at least she's getting her punishment now,_ he mused to himself.

"Will you be coming back down here?"

Hanekoma chuckled. "Of course I will, sooner or later. Kariya will keep Josh mostly in line, but you know him. He does what he wants. But, can I ask a favor?"

"Anything," Neku answered without a moment of hesitation.

"I can't be here to watch WildKat, but I plan on designing things still…would you keep the place running for me?" His eyes glinted behind their shades.

Neku brightened at the concept. "Of course."

Sanae dropped the shop keys into his hands, smiling widely. "It's all yours then, Phones. Josh has got a tab running up…"

He scoffed. "I couldn't make him pay if I wanted to."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hanekoma winked and vanished.

~*X*~

"No way!" Eri exclaimed, shaking Shiki, eyes wide. "Neku, I'm _special_? Oh…my…God. I hope I don't end up targeted by some crazy freak to play another—"

"Calm down!" A rather dazed Shiki yelped, grabbing her friend's shoulders. "It'll be all right, no one will bother you!" She added to Neku, "An Anomaly? Talk about _strange_! But that _does_ explain a lot."

They were all in WildKat, only a few hours after Mr. H's disappearing act, and Neku had just finished explaining everything he had learned to his friends.

Rhyme, sitting in a stool with her feet kicking the air, tucked her hair behind her ear with a pensive expression. "The Angels are scared of you…this could cause trouble, in the future."

"They want trouble, I'll _give_ 'em some, yo! 'Cause whatever happens; it ain't nothin' we can't handle." Beat punched his fist into his palm, smirking.

"Only fools challenge the mighty, and only the mighty challenge fools," Rhyme said cryptically.

"I'm _done_ with all of this until I die again," Neku muttered, passing the younger Bito sibling a muffin from a tray.

"Don't let Joshua hear you saying that." Shiki cast an anxious look over her shoulders.

"He'll leave him alone. He got what he wanted," Rhyme remarked before biting into her pastry. She smiled brightly. "But I'm glad we made it through all of that!"

"Me too." Eri exhaled, long and slow. "You guys attract all kinds of weird."

"But we make just _great_ friends along the way!" Shiki looked at Neku, dropping her voice. "Thank you so much for everything you did."

"It was nothing." He pointedly glanced away from her, suddenly feeling hot. He clearly recalled the bizarre experience of extracting Shiki from _within_ him, her essence woven into his own Music. It had been something that Joshua could only explain, and Neku wasn't even sure how many hours it had taken him to—

"When are ya going to just _kiss_ her already?" Beat joked, the words coming out muffled since he had a doughnut shoved in his mouth. All of the girls except Shiki began giggling behind their hands, and Neku's skin crawled due to the strength of his embarrassment.

Shiki raised her hands, shocked. "W-W-W-We're n-n-not like that!"

"Oh come on, you two obviously love each other! Neku just fought through angelic Hell for you! It would make _such_ a romantic story." Eri, of course.

"Leave them alone, guys." Rhyme, always the peace maker, said with a vivid smile.

"Either shut up or get out," Neku glared at everyone, his tone serious but his eyes teasing.

_Maybe, things aren't so boring after all. I mean…I have friends, and we did it. We got through the Tournament, and we're all together. And alive. _

From behind the bar, he watched his companions joking and teasing one another, and he had a feeling that Joshua wasn't too far away either. After all, it was the Composer's city. He'd come join them if he wanted to, since he knew that he was always invited to whatever they did.

_I could have been an Angel, but then I'd have been under their rules. Did they want that? Or not? I end up getting tangled in so many dumbass things, and then I put my friends in danger at the same time. But they don't seem to mind._

"What're you thinking about, Neku?" Shiki asked as everyone else was momentarily distracted by Beat. The skater was almost choking, crumbs falling from his mouth, with an exasperated Rhyme reminding him not to eat so much at one time. Eri appeared a bit worried.

"The crap we have to put up with every year." Even to his own ears, his words sounded more amused than annoyed.

He saw indecision pass through her eyes before she put her hand on top of his, their fingers intertwining. "No matter what happens, I believe you'll get us through it. You're a natural born leader, Neku!"

Snorting, he didn't reply, though the edges of his lips turned up in a smile.

_What a wonderful world._

_~*X*~_

_Author's Note: Lacey is the OC of RawkstarVienna and clearly not mine. _

_Well, it's finally over! Thanks for staying with this story for so long! Tell me what you think of this story as a whole, and maybe I'll write another. A very special thanks to James Firebrand for Beta'ing ALL of this, and it's 181 pages on my Microsoft Word._

_Thanks to all of my reviewers/readers/alerters! Love you guys!_


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